The Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) have arrested five impersonators during the ongoing recruitment exercise in Jinja City.

The recruitment commander for Busoga sub-region, Brig Chris Ogwal, said the five applicants were arrested for allegedly “breaching the system”.

Brig Ogwal said they received many applicants and each district has a specific number of potential UPDF conscripts, with Jinja City and Jinja District being allocated 90 slots and the whole Busoga sub-region being 700.

However, he said it has been established that some applicants presented themselves falsely and will be handed over to Police to face the law.

“We have a female applicant who was disqualified on medical grounds, but she was found among the already screened applicants. The Police will interrogate her to find out how she got there,” Brig Ogwal said.

The spokesperson for the recruitment exercise in Busoga sub-region, Lt Lauben Ndifula, said conscripts into the UPDF must be Ugandans between the age of 18 and 22 years, must possess an original national identity card and be ready to undergo medical and body fitness tests.

Raise age of conscripts

Mr Benjamin Bogere, a parent from Buwenge who escorted his son who was eventually disqualified for reportedly being overage, asked the UPDF hierarchy to revise the age of prospective conscripts into the national army, saying most children in rural areas start going to school late.

“They should increase the age to 30 years because some of us struggle to send our children to study; and should also put into consideration those in hard-to-reach areas,” Mr Bogere added.

Mr Joseph Naku, an applicant in Jinja City, said he had a challenge with his national identity card, which he said had his name misspelt, the reason he wasn’t shortlisted.

Naku said he only came to the recruitment ground at Busoga Square with his hope hinged on any chance that some shortlisted applicants fail to make it and he is taken on.