THE EAST AFRICAN-NAIROBI-KENYA
Regional
Monday, January 20, 2003
Cash-Strapped UPDF Stops Officers From Retiring
By W. WAKABI
THE EASTAFRICAN
THE UGANDA People's Defence Forces (UPDF) has stopped officers from retiring because it does not have money to pay their severance benefits.
Army men, whose applications for retirement have been granted, have also not been released yet for the same reason.
The army, which plans to retire up to 10,000 of its officers and servicemen who qualify for retirement, reportedly requires nearly $21.4 million for the exercise. Defence officials said, however, that the ministry would save $8.6 million on its payroll annually if it retired the 10,000 soldiers.
Discharged soldiers reportedly remain on the nominal payroll for at least six years as reserves.
Last week, 1,000 soldiers were camped at Nakasongola army base waiting for payment before going home.
Army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told The EastAfrican that because the army has no money, it is giving the retiring soldiers three month's salary and sending them home as their gratuity is worked out.
He added, however, that no officers were being allowed to retire, though many had applied. "The officers have not been allowed to retire and they are still applicants. The officers are few in number but their packages are bigger, which is why they cannot be discharged," he said.
Though the servicemen eligible for retirement greatly outnumber officers, their severance packages are smaller, so a few of them are being discharged.
About 36,500 demobilised soldiers who are now catered for by the Uganda Veterans Assistance Board have been receiving their money in instalments. Most of them were demobilised between 1992 and 1995 at a cost of about $44 million.
Another 5,000 soldiers were laid off at the end of 2001.
The army's Policy and Administration Committees, which sit in various divisions, have reportedly sent army headquarters lists of soldiers whose retirement they have approved. Among those being discharged are malingerers, the terminally ill, the aged, non-performers and those who have requested voluntary retirement.
Lt Gen David Tinyefunza, a presidential advisor on defence, said recently that the government would pay all National Resistance Army and World War II veterans after enacting a comprehensive defence law. But it was still looking for funds for the pay-outs.
The soldiers' benefits are calculated according to seniority and number of years served. For each year served, a soldier is paid one month's salary.
The monthly salary of a soldier in Uganda averages between Ush150,000 ($81) and Ush200,000 ($108).
Army officials say the ongoing demobilisation of soldiers is part of an army restructuring designed to make the defence force a modern, well-trained and equipped force. Modernisation of the army was one of the two main issues President Museveni promised to tackle in his current and last term in office.
The president has asked donors to allow him to raise defence spending from $113 million to $252 million annually over the next three years in order to buy equipment and train the force. President Museveni says he prefers a leaner but better-trained and equipped army.
Last week, Museveni was in Israel where he visited arms manufacturing firms, including Israeli Aircraft Industries, which has helped to refurbish Uganda's Mig fighter jets.
Just over two weeks ago he met in Kampala with a delegation of Russian representatives of arms manufacturing firms.
Sources close to President Museveni say he has become directly involved in the ongoing equipment purchasing to guard against defence officials buying defective or overpriced arms.
The army says that since the end of last year, it has been buying quality arms and equipment as part of the army modernisation plan.
The ongoing fighting between the Ugandan forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army of Joseph Kony has made the modernisation of the army particularly urgent they say.
This is so because for the past 16 years, the defence force has failed to end the rebellion, which has turned the northern region into a wasteland.
The rebels, who claimed they want to topple President Museveni's government and replace it him with a government run on the Bible's ten commandments, have abducted and killed thousands of children.
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