What you need to know:

The recruits are reportedly going to be deployed in Karamoja Sub-region.

President Museveni at the weekend passed out 6,238 Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel, who completed a 16-week basic military and tactical training course at Kaweweta Military Training School in Nakaseke District.
The recruits were picked from Wakiso, Mukono, and Kampala districts last year in October.
According to Ms Lindah Nabusayi, the senior presidential press secretary, the training had 6,340 trainees of which 676 were female and 5,664 male, but 102 did not complete the exercise.

Cautioned
Mr Museveni warned the LDUs and the entire UPDF against endangering their health in risky behaviour.
“Once you are healthy and you follow the regulations of the army, the future will be bright,” President Museveni said.

Sources in the military told this newspaper that the passed out LDU personnel were given only seven days to refresh and to be deployed in Karamoja Sub-region, where there is insecurity.
“The 3rd Division high management based in Moroto District last week submitted their complaint of manpower gap to the office of the Chief of Defence Forces and they had not sent them the manpower,” the source said.

By press time, the defence spokesperson, Brig Felix Kulayigye, had not responded to the issue of the deployment, but referred us to Ms Nabusayi’s Twitter handle for more information.
Last year in November, the joint security forces extended the disarmament exercise aimed at recovering illegal guns from the community in Karamoja for another three months.

The exercise, named “Usalama Kwa Wote” loosely translated to mean “Peace for All”, is headed by Brig Gen Joseph Balikudembe.
According to UPDF records, the first phase of the operation that started in July last year recovered 105 guns and 7,726 animals.
The animals were handed over to the owners, while about 350 suspects were convicted and sentenced.

READ MORE