The Senior Presidential Advisor in Charge of Special Operations, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has this Thursday afternoon commissioned the UPDF Land Forces Motor Workshop and Senior Officers Apartments at UPDF’s general headquarters in Bombo.
Each of the apartments on the block, named after the National Resistance Army (NRA) combatant, Col. Patrick Lumumba, has three bedrooms, a spacious living room, a kitchen, two toilets, a store, and two balconies.
The construction of the apartment block cost Shs 2 billion and is part of an ambitious housing project across various formations of the armed forces.
During his reign as Land Forces commander, Gen. Muhoozi initiated the massive housing construction project that has seen 400 housing facilities built in army divisions all over Uganda.
“It gives me great pleasure to be back here in Bombo,” said Muhoozi in his opening remarks at the ceremony, adding, “This is the home of the venerable Land Forces.”
Muhoozi said, “For a very long time, accommodation facilities at Bombo were not a priority” and that the existing structures were in a sorry state.
“Rebuilding of the old barracks started a couple of years ago when we came in,” said Muhoozi, who served as Commander Land Forces from June 2021 to October 2022.
Construction works on the Patrick Lumumba Senior Officers Apartments started during the reign of @mkainerugaba as Land Forces commander. Each apartment has three bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen, two toilets, store and two balconies.
The building is complete & ready for occupation pic.twitter.com/8WS0WEV1N5— ChimpReports (@ChimpReports) August 10, 2023
“Many of you may not know that it’s the oldest in Uganda and East Africa,” said Muhoozi as he recounted the history of the military facility.
“It was established in 1906. That’s 117 years ago. That time, it was the home of the 4th King African Rifles. Most of the soldiers here were Indians, Somalis, and Baswahili from the coast. It was considered a model station for the rest of East Africa. It has a very long history,” he added.
“The overall commander was Brig. William Manning. The history of this place is very rich. We must make the facilities here as good as that rich history,” Gen. Muhoozi emphasised.
“It was painful when I came in 2021 and I saw how facilities had been run down. I thank the Commander-in-Chief who agreed to rebuild the place and provided the resources to do so,” said Muhoozi.
“We started rebuilding Bombo, and a lot has been achieved, including the perimeter wall, which is almost complete. We will soon build the Camp Commandant’s house, the operations centre, the guard houses, and the gates, which are ramshackled,” he added amid a standing ovation from the senior officers attending the ceremony.
Muhanga speaks out
The commander of the Land Forces, Lt Gen Muhanga Kayanja, who took over from Muhoozi, said, “There was no money for construction, but Gen Muhoozi put in a lot of energy until he got this money from the Ministry of defence. Without him, we wouldn’t have moved this far.”
He added, “I told you that whenever we find hurdles to jump, we will always come to you. Recently, when we had some scarcity, we went back to him (Muhoozi), and we are back to these projects.”
On his part, the Chief of Staff, Land Forces, Brig. Bob Ogiki, thanked Gen. Muhoozi for “decentralising funds and going a long way in enabling divisions to construct the required housing units in their areas of responsibility.”
“The welfare of the forces is number one on our daily agenda. When we wake up, we ask, “Do the soldiers have where to sleep, what to eat, medicine; and vehicles in good mechanical condition?” said Ogiki, adding, “Whatever has been put in place will be protected from misuse and vandalism.”
Muhoozi thanked G”en Muhanga and his team for continuing this very important programme of rebuilding this barracks (Bombo) as well as the much bigger effort of rebuilding our barracks across the country.
“You can’t talk of a professional army when the facilities are not there or in a state of disrepair,” said Muhoozi, who emphasised that the “motor transport workshop is a historic achievement and would go a long way in enhancing the army’s self-sufficiency.”
“I thank you for naming this block after Col. Patrick Lumumba and your tireless work in implementing ideas of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, which are at the core of what makes UPDF unique. The goal should be good accommodation facilities for all our barracks.”
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