Officer Cadet Ruhamya Kainerugaba, son of Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has officially graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom, completing the academy’s prestigious Officer Commissioning Course.
Gen. Kainerugaba attended the graduation ceremony on Friday to witness his son’s commissioning.
Ahead of the parade, Gen. Kainerugaba was received by Major General Nick Cowley OBE, the Academy Commandant, who presented him with a Sandhurst Alumni medal. The honour was particularly notable because the tradition of issuing such badges was introduced after the General’s own time at the academy.
The Sovereign’s Parade, a formal ceremony marking the passing out and commissioning of officer cadets, was held at the academy’s historic campus in Surrey.
Ruhamya was commissioned alongside fellow Ugandan Officer Cadet Andrew Bakira, joining British and international cadets who marched past Old College, the academy’s iconic main building, in a ceremony attended by family members, dignitaries and military officials.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba himself attended Sandhurst for the same course decades earlier and graduated in 2000.
Ahead of the parade, the CDF shared updates on his son’s progress, posting side-by-side photographs of himself during his own officer training alongside images of Ruhamya.
Reflecting on the experience, Gen. Kainerugaba described it as “father and son going through the same hardships, separated by 27 years.”
The Sandhurst commissioning course runs for 44 weeks and is regarded as one of the world’s most demanding military leadership programmes. Cadets undergo intensive training in infantry tactics, weapons systems, fieldcraft, operational planning, ethics and high-pressure command.
Upon completion, newly commissioned officers return to their respective national armed forces. In Ruhamya’s case, he will join the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), where he will be deployed accordingly.
Addressing the newly commissioned officers during the parade, General Sir Roly Walker, the Chief of the General Staff, warned that the global military environment is rapidly evolving.
“We had every confidence that it was a world in which we dominated militarily,” he said. “And for reasons that are obvious to us all now, that world is fading fast.”
He warned that the prospect of general war was increasing, with little assurance of perpetual military dominance.
However, General Walker said the changing security environment should not be a cause for despair, stressing that collective defence was increasingly becoming a national 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 newly commissioned officers.
He underscored their responsibility as young military leaders, saying their nations would need soldiers who, in turn, would need strong leadership.
“Our nations will need their soldiers. Those soldiers will need to be led… They deserve the best leaders,” he said, reminding the officers that their first duty was to earn the trust of their soldiers.
“That is the simplicity of the motto of this place: Serve to Lead. And we ask nothing more from you.”
General Walker expressed confidence in the newly commissioned officers, saying the future of military leadership was in good hands.
