Over 150 participants had forged academic documents, 28 participants had fake national identity cards, whereas an unspecified number of the youths presented fake recommendation purportedly letters from the village chairpersons, GISOs and DISOs, within the area.
The Jinja city Uganda Peoples Defense Forces-UPDF recruitment center stationed at Kakindu stadium on Monday, was marred by forgeries of both academic documents and national identity cards by the potential
recruits.
The center attracted 4,000 youthful applicants from the
districts of Jinja, Buvuma, Kayunga and Jinja City, who underwent both physical
and medical examinations on arrival at the stadium.
Over 150 participants had forged academic documents, 28
participants had fake national identity cards, whereas an unspecified number of
the youths presented fake recommendation purpotedly letters from the village chairpersons,
GISOs and DISOs, within the area.
One of the health workers from the recruitment team told URN
that, about 200 participants tested positive for hepatitis B, hypertension,
diabetes and asthma, whereas, others possessed deep scars on different their
body parts, which disqualified them from joining the force.
Amos Seebe, a resident of Butagaya in Jinja district says
that he lost his national identity card and presented a replacement form to
the recruitment teams, but he was sent off the grounds.
“I lost my national
identity card in April, 2022 and I even filed for replacement of the same, but despite
offering them documentation confirming the same, I was denied the opportunity
to join UPDF,” he says.
Evelyn Nambi, a resident of Buvuma district says that she
misplaced her senior four results slip and presented a photocopy of the same with hopes of being cleared to join the force, but all was in vain.
UPDF’s first division spokesperson, Charles Kabona says
that they were pleased with the big turn up of potential candidates, despite
having an initial target of 215 recruits from all the three districts, which
largely necessitated them to employ comprehensive evaluation processes without
compromise.
Kabona further stresses that the nature of military
training demands the functionality of all potential candidates’ body organs to
avert possibilities of fatalities, which largely necessitates the extensive
evaluation of recruits’ health and wellbeing, before granting them a placement in the
force.
