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Issue 00677 |
August 13- 19, 2011 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Local News |
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General Sarakikya attends Royal
Military Academy’s 50th reunion in Sandhurst By Arusha Times Reporter Retired General Mirisho Sarakikya has flown to the United Kingdom for a reunion session with over 100 fellow Royal Military Academy Sandhurst alumni who were commissioned at RMAS fifty years ago, in 1961. General Sarakikya, who served as
Tanzania's High Commissioner to Kenya, in Nairobi for over a decade
until 2004, is the country’s first National Army Commander (Chief of
Defense Forces) and also the founder of the Monduli-based, Tanzania
Military Academy (TMA) which is reported as the best officer training
base in Africa. Speaking at his Nkoaranga Village home, in Meru District, last weekend, shortly before departing for London, Major General Sarakikya admitted that he was going to be in for a big surprise on Tuesday when he meets for the first time, fellow army officers he last saw in 1961. “It is going to be a 50- year re-union for the class of 1961 who joined the Royal Military Academy in 1959, there were over 300 of us then, but I am sure many have since died because five decades is such a long time,” said Mr Sarakikya. He is the only one from East Africa attending the re-union. However according to the retired General, there are so far, 100 Royal Military Academy officers, who graduated at Sandhurst in 1961 and who had confirmed to attend this week's reunion ceremony in the United Kingdom.
“He was my personal friend and during our time at the Royal Military Academy, we spent most of the time together, I have never recovered from his death, just as I still cannot get over the death of my other close friend, the late Mr Sammy Mdee the former Daily News editor and Press Secretary to the late President Mwalimu Nyerere . Mr Ian Fleming the person who created James Bond (007) also attended the Royal Military Academy but he did not complete his training. The Alumni of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is extensive and includes many famous generals around the globe including outstanding Victoria Cross (VC) winners. The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst recently denied that it also trained and commissioned Field Marshall Idd Amin, the former Ugandan Dictator leader and the embattled Libyan President, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The RMAS alumni extensive lineup includes a number of 'students' who did not complete the course. Some of the foreign royalty were not, for example, commissioned. The Sandhurst Foundation acts as a community for the alumni of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
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