Kampala — Two stories involving Maj. Gen. James Kazini, the acting Army Commander, bring a cheer to the teary.

Both are in the Sunday Monitor of Oct.26.

The first is: Kazini Builds House for Major's Family. The story reports that Kazini is building a house for the family of Maj. Issa Ssesanga who was killed by rebels in northern Uganda in July this year.

The house is being built in Matugga, Wakiso district, in fulfilment of a promise Kazini made during Ssesanga's funeral.

The second story, Kazini Says Sorry for Civilian Deaths, is equally remarkable.

This one quotes Kazini apologising to the people of Gulu for the repeated attacks and killings of innocent civilians by rebels.

In the same story, Kazini is reported to have said corruption among UPDF officers has prolonged the conflict in northern Uganda.

As one major general famously remarked, war is not a tea party. People die, are maimed, displaced and brutalised. They lose loved ones and property. Even the word spoken during war are often sharp and violent, some as piercing as the life ending bullet.

That is why the tone and gesture in these two stories is both a welcome change and very touching.

Many Ugandans will recall the praise showered upon the liberating National Resistance Army (now UPDF) rebels of Yoweri Museveni when they first entered and took Kampala in 1986.

Unlike the brutal vanquished Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) forces, the NRA was cheered and hugged on the streets.

The 1986 NRA was indeed an army with a heart, a true people's army.

Many will recall how soldiers then cleaned towns of mounds of garbage, assisted the elderly, and returned missing property. Small gestures, that went a long way.

Those days are gone.

Today, a big chunk of suspects netted in Operation Wembley, which targets city robbers, are soldiers or their associates. Security operatives are being linked to torture chambers, and fraud in the military is at an all time high.

That is why Kazini's voice and gesture are welcome. They represent the army Ugandans want.

There are those who ask whether Kazini will build a house for every dead soldier? Will saying sorry for atrocities against civilians end the war, they ask. They may be right. But we say to them: We now know our army is on our side.