Committee demands list of UPDF uniforms amid NUP attire controversy

The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs on Tuesday directed the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Jacob Oboth Oboth, to provide a list of gazetted Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) uniforms and symbols. This will allow the committee to distinguish between official military attire and other clothing.

This directive followed a complaint from Betty Nambooze, the Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament, and other National Unity Platform (NUP) members on the committee. The complaint arose during a meeting with Ministry of Defence officials and senior UPDF leaders to scrutinize the ministry’s budget framework for the next financial year.

During the meeting, Nambooze asked the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt. Gen. Samuel Okiding, to explain why NUP supporters wearing red overalls and red berets were arrested for allegedly wearing military uniforms.

“Mr Chairman, many of our supporters in NUP have been arrested and arraigned before the Court Martial and charged with putting on clothes that are a preserve of the UPDF, yet our party colours are red,” she said on Tuesday before asking more questions.

Lt. Gen. Okiding listed several UPDF uniforms, but the red overalls commonly worn by NUP supporters were not among them.

This prompted Nambooze to question why NUP supporters were being arraigned before a court martial for wearing military uniforms when, in fact, they were not.

The committee chairperson, Wilson Kagwenje, then directed the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces and Minister Oboth Oboth to provide the committee with a list of gazetted UPDF uniforms.

Written by Prossy Kisakye