The Uganda People’s Defence Force has canceled recruitment exercise in districts of; Bukw0, Kapchorwa and Kwen citing an outbreak of the hemorrhagic Marburg fever.
“The UPDF regrets to inform the general public that due to the confirmed break out of the Marburg hemorrhagic fever in some parts of eastern Uganda,” a statement from army spokesperson, Brig Richard Karemire reads in part.
The recruitment exercise was due to take place on Saturday, October 27 in the said districts.
“However, we wish to sincerely thank you all for the positive enthusiasm shown towards serving our country Uganda in the noble military profession. Please do not lose hope, there will be another chance in future,” the statement continues.
The nationwide recruitment exercise that started at the beginning of this month looks at recruiting 4,000 soldiers of whom 3,000 will be regular and 1,000 will be professional to serve the different professional arms in the army. The exercise will end on October 29, 2017, in 116 districts of Uganda.
The regular prospective recruits are required to have a minimum qualification of the Uganda Certificate of Education while the prospective professional recruits are required to have a minimum qualification of the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education – UACE obtained over the last three years. These should have a bias in science subjects.
The recruits are further required to be citizens, present a medical examination report, national identity cards, local council recommendation letter, and original copies of their academic papers, three passport size photos among others before being taken through the other physical and medical tests by the recruitment team. They are also supposed to be single with no children.
The UPDF recruitment exercise seeks to address the human resource deficit arising out of the retirement of a similar number of personnel who will be leaving the forces over the next two years. Up to 1700 of these will be retiring in November, this year.
On October 19, Ruth Aceng, the minister for Health has confirmed the outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in parts of Eastern Uganda, particularly Kapchorwa and Kween districts.
Two people have reported died although Aceng said government had confirmed one death.
addressing journalists at The Media Centre, she appealed to the general public to remain calm and two report suspected cases confirms it, but measures and a peals to the public to report those suspected of having contracted the virus.