By Hannah Marion Namukasa
Officer Cadet Ruhamya Kainerugaba, son of Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom after completing the prestigious Officer Commissioning Course.
Gen. Kainerugaba attended Friday’s Sovereign’s Parade at the academy to witness his son’s commissioning alongside fellow Ugandan Officer Cadet Andrew Bakira.
Before the ceremony, Gen. Kainerugaba was received by Major General Nick Cowley OBE, the academy’s Commandant, who presented him with a Sandhurst Alumni medal. The recognition was significant because the tradition of issuing the badges was introduced after Gen. Kainerugaba’s own time at the academy.
The Sovereign’s Parade, which formally marks the commissioning of officer cadets, took place at Sandhurst’s historic campus in Surrey. Ruhamya and Bakira joined British and international cadets in marching past Old College, the academy’s iconic main building, before family members, military officials and other dignitaries.
Gen. Kainerugaba himself completed the same commissioning course at Sandhurst, graduating in 2000.
Ahead of the ceremony, the CDF shared photographs comparing his own time as an officer cadet with images of Ruhamya during his training. Reflecting on their experience, he described it as “father and son going through the same hardships, separated by 27 years.”
The Sandhurst commissioning course lasts 44 weeks and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most demanding military leadership programmes. Cadets undergo intensive training in areas including infantry tactics, weapons systems, fieldcraft, operational planning, ethics and command under pressure.
Following graduation, newly commissioned officers return to their respective national armed forces. Ruhamya is expected to join the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), where he will be deployed in accordance with military requirements.
Addressing the newly commissioned officers, General Sir Roly Walker, the UK Chief of the General Staff, warned that the global security environment is undergoing rapid change.
“We had every confidence that it was a world in which we dominated militarily,” he said, adding that “for reasons that are obvious to us all now, that world is fading fast.”
Walker warned that the possibility of a general war was increasing, while military dominance could no longer be taken for granted.
However, he urged the new officers not to view the changing security landscape with despair, stressing that national defence was increasingly becoming a collective effort.
“There is an absolute clarity to your purpose, which is to be ready to fight and win your nation’s battles,” he told the graduates.
He also emphasised the responsibility of the newly commissioned officers as future military leaders, saying their countries would depend on soldiers who, in turn, would require strong and capable leadership.
“Our nations will need their soldiers. Those soldiers will need to be led… They deserve the best leaders,” Walker said, urging the officers to earn the trust of the soldiers under their command.
He pointed to Sandhurst’s motto, “Serve to Lead,” as a guiding principle for the graduates.
“That is the simplicity of the motto of this place: Serve to Lead. And we ask nothing more from you,” he said.
Walker expressed confidence in the newly commissioned officers, saying the future of military leadership was in capable hands.
