Nakaseke district in the greater Luweero area will this year host the 39th annual Tarehe Sita celebrations.
According to the UPDF spokesperson, Brig. Richard Karemire, the army will be celebrating the day with the people of Luweero for the significant role the greater Luwero played during the 1981-1986 war that brought the NRM government to power.
He said that under the theme “Consolidating the UPDF strategic partnership with the people to guard the gains of liberation”, this year’s Tarehe Sita anniversary will be hosted in the area close to the home of the struggle.
“Without the people, the UPDF or NRA you would call it before, would never have survived. It is through the people that we got the recruits. It’s the people who fed the NRA and it’s the people that gave intelligence that enabled fighters conduct operations of the liberation,”Brig.Karemire said on Monday.
Karemire said that as part of the 39th Tarehe Sita celebrations, the army through the Defence Forces week will hold a series of civil-military activities aimed at fostering harmony between the forces and the people.
“These will be aimed at fostering harmony between the forces and the people by working with communities to conduct cleaning of institutions, urban centres, tree planting, engineering works and medical camps. Members of the public in these areas are encouraged to participate and take maximum advantage of these services,” the army spokesperson said.
He noted that these will begin with a national launch on January 28 at the Ministry of Defence headquarters in Mbuya, regional launch the following day at Timuna Senior Secondary School in Kasangombe sub-county in Nakaseke district on January 29 and district launches would come later.
Tarehe Sita
Celebrated on February 6 every year, Tarehe Sita is when 40 combatants took to the Luweero bushes through the attack at Kabamba on this exact date to launch an epic five-year struggle that ushered the National Resistance Movement into power.
The attack on Kabamba led to the formation of the National Resistance Army which later metamorphosed into the current army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.
Tarehe Sita is therefore meant to celebrate the creation of the UPDF.