Fifteen candidates were sent away from Teso Sub-region during the ongoing national recruitment of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) over forged academic documents.
They were among the hundreds from Teso and Bukedi Sub-regions who turned up for the exercise targeting 690 candidates.
Lt. Nasser Mane, the Public Information Officer for Team Eight handling the Teso and Bukedi regions, said the 15 individuals were intercepted from Kapelebyong, Katakwi and Amuria districts.
“When you fabricate results, it is very easy to identify, including transcripts, but they had applied successfully, and they were selected,” Lt Mane said.
The exercise, which started on August 10th, received a huge turnout but saw several candidates disqualified due to various illnesses.
“We interviewed 127 candidates in Katakwi, but we only managed to take 50. We couldn’t accommodate the rest because of the limited slots allocated to the district,” Lt. Mane said.
The successful candidates will be sent to four training schools: Kaweweta, Butiaba, Olilim, and Labwor dwong, compared to last year when there was only one training school in Kaweweta. They will then be given three days to report, failure to which they will be disqualified.
Lt. Mane revealed that the recruitment is split, with 70% for the regular army and 30% reserved for candidates with professional backgrounds. The team is in Teso and Bukedi regions until August 20th.
Mr Imuran Muluga, the Soroti District Resident Commissioner, also warned candidates against paying money to anyone claiming to lobby for recruitment slots, saying the UPDF has zero tolerance for corruption and that no amount of money can guarantee enlistment.
“The age limit has been mentioned, and there is no amount of money that can help if you are medically unfit; just don’t waste your time,” Mr Muluga said.
Mr Steven Omoding, Assistant Resident City Commissioner for Soroti City, urged anyone whose money has been extorted to report the matter.
Many candidates whose names were not shortlisted turned up at the grounds where the exercise was ongoing, hoping to be considered.
Ms Beatrice Imede from Kamuda Sub-county was not shortlisted, but she turned up hoping she would be considered.