By Stephen Kalema
The Uganda People Defence Forces has passed out 120 engineers whose speciality is road construction, use and maintenance of equipment.
The pass out ceremony was held on Friday.
According to Lt. Col. Deo Akiki, the deputy spokesman of UPDF, the 120 soldiers studied the course for a period of one month at Sera Kasenyi Military Training School, Wakiso District.
In a message delivered by Commander of Air Force, Maj Gen. Charles Lwanga Lutaaya, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. David Muhoozi appreciated the commitment of the leadership of the Ministry of Works and Transport for allocating 70 road construction machinery to UPDF for a noble cause of building capacity for National infrastructural development.
The Minister of State for Works and Transport in charge of Works, Gen. Katumba Wamala also appreciated the trainees and said the army has been able to participate in various development activities in the country. These include road construction and other key infrastructural development because of the prevailing peace. “Participation of the army in building national infrastructure is good as there is no more war and the human resource has to be kept busy in other fields,” he said.However, he challenged the trainees to take seriously their calling since most of the construction ongoing is still being done by foreign contractors, a practice he says should be reserved to favour Ugandans. He applauded them for joining the right profession with great skills because it qualifies them for employment opportunities elsewhere even after retirement.
The trainees were awarded certificates.
Also assorted road equipment worth USD135 million were sourced from Japan Bank of International Credit (JBIC). The trainees are to use them during construction work.
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