KAMPALA — Retired Brigadier Charles Bakahumura on Sunday joined family, parishioners, and well-wishers at St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Church in Ntinda for a thanksgiving Mass celebrating more than three decades of distinguished service in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Edward Muwanga. Brig. Bakahumura—who formally retired last Thursday after 35 years in active service following an official send-off of 19 general officers at State House—used the occasion to reflect on a long career marked by both trial and grace.
“I served in the UPDF for the last 35 years. Many of my colleagues did not make it,” he told the congregation who gave him a thunderous applause.
“I met many challenges and many blessings. My wife and I met while I was serving in the army, and it was during this time that we raised our children.” He noted.
Reflecting on his tenure in senior roles, including his time as Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI), Bakahumura noted that while military leadership demands precision, a defining highlight of his career came during Pope Francis’s historic visit to Uganda in 2015, where he helped lead key security arrangements.
“We were facing some security threats at the time, including the tragic assassination of prosecutor Joan Kagezi. It was not an easy time,” Bakahumura recounted. “However, I knew that ultimate protection did not rely on me alone.”
After the visit, the Apostolic Nuncio informed Bakahumura that Pope Francis had granted him a private audience.
“That was the highest honor for me as a Catholic,” he shared. “The Pope prayed for my wife, who was pregnant at the time. Our son, Emmanuel, is here today as a living testimony of those prayers.”
In recognition of Bakahumura’s dedication to his faith throughout his rise in the armed forces, Fr. Muwanga commended the retired brigadier, noting that he serves as living proof that one can occupy the highest public offices without forgetting their Catholic identity and values.
Bakahumura praised the military as a whole, describing the UPDF as a vital institution whose extensive national contributions often go unrecognized by the public.
The thanksgiving event was integrated into the parish’s 10:00 AM service. Bakahumura was among 19 general officers whose retirements were officially presided over by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Commander-in-Chief of the UPDF, at State House Entebbe. The broader retirement exercise saw a total of 1,817 personnel discharged across various ranks.
Throughout his 35-year military career, Brig. Bakahumura held several high-profile appointments. He served as Chief of Military Intelligence from 2012 to 2017 before being appointed Chief of Logistics and Engineering—a post he held for seven years, making him the longest-serving chief in that division. His final active military posting was as Uganda’s Defence Attaché to Türkiye.
Sunday’s parish gathering provided a deeply personal and spiritual dose to a military career that spanned defense intelligence, logistics, engineering, and international diplomacy.
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