Officers tipped on exhibiting leadership skills as UPDF passes out over 100 in Jinja
A total of 111 officers who completed a four months Junior Command and Staff course have been passed out at the Junior Command and Staff College in Jinja on Friday.
Speaking during the ceremony, the UPDF Chief of Personnel and Administration Maj Gen George Igumba said the 10 or so modules the officers have been exposed to rotate around leadership, virtue that the military rotates on.
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He noted that 15 weeks ought to have prepared the officers to be leaders with a unique purpose to impact positively on their followers.
Leadership entails command of people and management of resources at disposal. It should not be just mere leadership but a purposeful one. Purposeful leaders are what each one of you should be positioning to be. Don’t blame circumstances or conditions for your behavior or conduct,” Maj Gen Igumba said.
SFC spokesperson, Maj Jimmy Omara(C) was among the officers who graduated on Friday.
He urged the officers to build trust by listening carefully, doing the little things right and do what they promise to do but also be enthusiastic, have integrity, communication skills , charisma, loyalty and decisiveness.
“People are more likely to follow those leaders they like. The best leaders are well spoken, approachable and friendly too. They show liking, empathy and care for others. Ultimately each of the above qualities is essential to great leadership. Without them, leaders cannot live up to their full potential,” he urged.
“As military leaders always find someone in your battalion, company and platoon and their equivalents that is widely recognized for excellence and buy him lunch or even a drink. Once you master those essentials, excellence in your military career will happen and the impact will be admired even in your absence.”
According to Brig Winston Byaruhanga, the Commandant of the Junior Command and Staff College Jinja, the four months course was structured to produce all round officers prepared to work in both command and staff appointments
“The officers were taken through a package of programs aimed at enabling them to internalize functions of command up to and including brigade level, understand the structure, deployment, roles and inter dependence of the armed forces, apply principles and techniques of employment of land forces in operations of war and transitional phases during operations but also apply the principles and techniques of counter insurgency operations,” Brig Byaruhanga said.
He noted that the skills earned during the training will enable the officers from the different UPDF services to fully undertake command and staff duties given to them.
Special Forces Command spokesperson, Maj Jimmy Omara was among the 111 officers who graduated.
