Brig. Gen. Earnest Nuwagaba, is the current Commander of Headquarter Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability (HQ URDC) a position he assumed in November 2024.
HQ URDC is a strategic Formation of UPDF tasked for rapid military response interventions based at Gaddafi Barracks in Jinja City. It was formed under the auspices of the African Union following the 1994 Rwanda genocide where over 800,000 are believed to have lost their lives. The African Union members believed they did not do enough by then to avert the genocide hence the decision to establish African Standby Forces that can rapidly respond to emerging volatile situations within 72hours. Its containment allows for other players to either initiate full defence engagement or undertake diplomatic shuttle.
Rapid Deployment Capability Units under the African Standby Force are spread across the African continent (North, West, South and East). Each African Union (AU) country is mandated to contribute forces towards these missions. For instance, Uganda pledged a battalion of motorized personnel while Kenya is contributing the infantry battalion. In East Africa there are two missions with one in Uganda commanded by Brig Gen Earnest Nuwagaba.
But who is Brig Gen. Earnest Nuwagaba, the man that’s tasked with this huge responsibility of commanding one of East Africa’s Rapid Deployment Capability missions? Does he keep awake 24/7? The Nile Wires team caught up with him at his office in Gaddafi Barracks in Jinja City.
Earnest was born in the middle of Mbarara town then (now city) to Mr. Stephen Tumuhairwe a retired senior civil servant working with the then Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) and the late Mrs. Jolly Tumuhairwe who was a prominent business woman. Jolly passed away in 2022. This is contrary to what some bloggers have been posting that Earnest was a street boy who grew up scavenging and who by some divine wand, he managed to rise through the ranks to the level of Brigadier General and that he lost his parents at the tender age.
Nuwagaba attended Bishop Stuart Demonstration School (one of the best primary schools in Mbarara then) for his primary education. He preceded to Mbarara High School and Makerere College School for his ordinary level education (O LEVEL) and Makerere High for his advanced level education (A LEVEL). By the grace of God his parents Mr. & Mrs. Tumuhairwe were able to meet all his educational needs and those of his other eight siblings contrary to what bloggers alluded to that his education was funded by benefactors and well wishers.
Following completion of his secondary education, his parents sent him to Barkatullah University in India where he attained a Bachelors of Commerce degree in 1997 a testimony that Nuwagaba’s parents were financially stable by all standards. This negates the narration pushed by the bloggers that the General was a street kid who miraculously broke the yoke of destitution. After his university education he returned to Uganda with a strong conviction to contribute to the transformation and the development of Uganda.
In 2001 driven by the desire to contribute to national security, Earnest decided to join the Uganda People’s Defence Forces as a cadet officer. It is here that he has risen through the ranks by sheer hard work, training and patriotism up to the current rank of Brigadier General.
He has attended several trainings at the different ranks including attending the most coveted Senior Command and Staff College where he attained the prestigious psc at the Senior Command and Staff College Kimaka. Among the positions in which he has served, Gen. Nuwagaba was once a staff officer in the Special Forces Command (SFC), commanded the SFC component in Somalia, Marine battalion commander among other positions. He is credited together with the Ministry of Health for the deployment of Marine ambulances on most of the islands. It should be noted that before the deployment of these marine ambulances, movement of patients referred to other hospitals was a big challenge.
A few months into his new role as the commander of the Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability (URDC), Gen. Nuwagaba has achieved a lot and is still focused on scaling to greater heights.
Brig Gen Earnest Nuwagaba’s driving force is hard work, positive attitude, innovation, and teamwork among others. But above all, he puts God first in everything he does. He says these have been the drivers behind his current assignment and not other parochial considerations.