KAMPALA — The Special Forces Command (SFC) has retained the overall title at the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Inter-Forces Drill Competition, winning the second edition of the annual military contest held at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
SFC emerged ahead of the 3rd Infantry Division, securing its second consecutive overall victory after also winning the inaugural competition.
More than 1,400 participants from over 40 teams took part in the competition, which tested military formations in marching, sword drill, cane-stick drill and creative drill.
SFC also won the award for best sword team, while the UPDF Directorate of Women Affairs was named the best cane-stick team.
The competition is intended to sharpen precision, discipline, coordination and teamwork among personnel from different formations and units of the armed forces.
In remarks delivered on his behalf by Deputy CDF and Inspector General Lt Gen Sam Okiding, CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba commended the participants for the improvement they demonstrated compared with the inaugural edition.
He said lessons from the first competition had contributed to improvements in precision, coordination and cohesion across the various drill categories.
According to Gen Kainerugaba, military drill is not merely ceremonial but develops skills that have direct relevance to military operations.
“Drill instills attention to detail, prompt command execution and doctrinal adherence,” he said, noting that these attributes are essential to the UPDF’s operations at home and on international missions.
He cited the military’s deployments and peace-support responsibilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Somalia as examples of environments where discipline and coordinated execution are critical.
The CDF also reiterated the UPDF’s identity as a “people’s army”, highlighting its involvement beyond conventional defence duties, including infrastructure development and fisheries regulation.
He credited President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni with providing the leadership under which the National Resistance Army evolved into the current UPDF.
Defence and Veteran Affairs Minister Kiryowa Kiwanuka also praised the competition, describing military drill as a foundation for discipline, teamwork, obedience and endurance.
He said the precision demanded on the parade ground has implications beyond ceremonial appearances, arguing that the habits developed through drill can influence performance during battlefield operations, national defence and peace-support missions.
The minister also linked military discipline to civil-military relations, saying public confidence in the armed forces depends partly on how personnel conduct themselves in society.
He reaffirmed the UPDF’s stated core values of Patriotism, Discipline, Pan-Africanism and Professionalism, describing them as essential to maintaining the integrity and cohesion of the force.
Chief Judge Lt Gen (Rtd) Nakibus Lakara said the judging process followed standardised scoring criteria intended to ensure fairness across the participating teams.
The Implementation Committee Chairman, Maj Gen Wycliffe Keita, who also serves as Chief of UPDF Training and Doctrine, thanked the CDF and other organisers for supporting the competition.
Keita said regular parade-square training contributes directly to combat preparedness by strengthening coordination, responsiveness and adherence to commands.
The event attracted Cabinet ministers, senior UPDF officers, leaders of sister security agencies, including the Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Service and External Security Organisation (ESO), as well as representatives of the NRM and PLU and members of the public.
The spectacle also featured young children dressed in military-style uniforms, saluting alongside the soldiers — a symbolic display of how military ceremony can become an early lesson in discipline and collective identity.
But beneath the polished formations and synchronised footsteps lies a more practical military question: can the precision demanded on the parade ground survive the confusion, fear and unpredictability of an actual battlefield?
For the UPDF leadership, the answer appears to be yes. The competition is designed to make discipline not simply something displayed at Kololo, but something carried into operations.
