Kenyans blocked from joining UPDF

At least 40 Kenyans who had disguised themselves as Ugandans so as to qualify for recruitment into the UPDF were blocked during the recently concluded recruitment exercise.

They were busted during a 10-day recruitment exercise that targeted a total of 4,000 people from all districts of Uganda as both professional and regular soldiers.

According to the Uganda People Defence Forces recruitment criteria, all recruits must be citizens of Uganda and in possession of an original national identity card alongside duly signed letters of recommendation from the area chiefs. They must also possess a good conduct certificate and have no criminal record.

But a number of Kenyans not only presented themselves during the recruitment exercise at the Kapchorwa secondary school on Monday but also appeared to have all these documents.

“We have got a challenge where some of the local authorities are not adequately supporting the exercise to the extent that they recommend noncitizens. Imagine some Kenyans were actually recommended by LCs (Local Council) and GISOs (Government Internal Security Officer). We only identified them here after we were tipped off by some concerned citizens. Indeed as we went deep we found that they were not Ugandans, about 40 of them were eliminated on that fact,” Telesphor Turyamanya, the 3rd UPDF spokesperson, said.