Today is Uganda's Tarehe Sita national holiday (Swahili for the 6th). For last years celebration, the Daily Monitor wrote: "Tarehe Sita is celebrated on 6th February every year to mark the National Resistance Army’s first attack on Kabamba barracks on 6th February 1981 which resulted into a five year bush war that led the NRM to power in 1986."
A New Vision editorial put the matter this way: "In 1986, National Resistance Army rebels liberated Ugandans from a Government backed by a Neo-colonial army that was synonymous with extra-judicial killings, violence and many other atrocities against the very people they were supposed to defend and protect." For 5 years the NRA fought the Obote government that was backed by UNLA (Uganda National Lberation Army). This was the army that fought Amin alongside Tanzanian forces. It was defeated on January 25th 1986. The Army Commander today General Katumba Wamala has been largely non-partisan even during the time he served as Police Inspector General. Comparably, the current IGP has made the words 'Police State' a bigger reality today. However a recent comment by the Army Chief asking politicians not to tell lies about the sorry state of government hospitals has put him on the spot for interfering in campaign politics as we approach election day scheduled for February 18th 2016. The Observer newspaper wrote an editorial for the 2015 Tarehe Sita celebrations where they said:"The UPDF registered tremendous success in Somalia and made Uganda proud. There might still be disagreement as to whether the soldiers should have been deployed there in the first place because of the casualties sustained, and the related terrorist attacks in Kampala in 2010. But there is no doubt they have done a good job. Mogadishu was a no-go area when they moved in but now the city is largely secure. The UPDF must also be credited for driving out Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. However, the officers and men need to ponder the critical need to transit from a politically partisan force to a truly national army. The umbilical cord joining the army and the regime mustn't exist." I would like to add here that by now we should have ensured that never again should the guns of the national army be pointed towards civilians, whether a soldier is on Peace-Keeping duties abroad, protecting this country from foreign invaders, or during general elections. And we all agree that this task requires national resolve and proper leadership. Otherwise soldiers will increasingly be subject to orders that lead them to the very ills the political leaders say they fought Obote forces for. Hussein Lumumba Amin. Kampala. 6/02/2016
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