KOBOKO: Koboko District has failed to meet the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) recruitment target after cases of mismatch of credentials, forgery and age limit marred the ongoing physical recruitment exercise.
According to 2nd Lt. Wilfred Oloya, the UPDF West Nile Region Public Relations Officer, the forces had a target of 64 recruits in Koboko but was only able to get 58 on to the shortlist.
He however, says out those shortlisted, only 38 turned up for the physical exercise, while only 21 have made it to the final stage of recruitment which includes medical check ups.
Meanwhile, earlier this afternoon, during the time for raising Matters of National Importance, Defence and Veteran Affairs Minister Kiyowa Kiwanuka responded to concerns over a UPDF recruitment rejection reportedly linked to a tattoo.
Kiwanuka said UPDF recruitment requires Ugandan citizenship, good character, being at least 18 years of age, and medical fitness but said the particular case would need to be investigated.
“For us in UPDF, what you may think is small is not small, it’s very big”, he said.
He has promised to follow up with the assessment center to establish the exact reason the recruit was rejected.
The UPDF is currently on a nationwide exercise targeting over 10,000 recruits.
By Rashul Adidi
