Will the defence reform pay off?

By Gawaya Tegulle In what is certain to re-define the role and importance of the army in Uganda’s politics, the government has embarked on the Uganda Defence Reform programme (UDRP) to reform, the national Defence system.It is expected to create efficiency in the management of the Ministry of Defence, introduce fiscal accountability, cost effectiveness and modernise and professionalise the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF).This is not the first-ever defence reform undertaken by the army. There have been other projects handled internally and secretly, with the outward manifestation being changes in command, ranks and equipment. The current project is unique because the army (an institution that prides in secrecy) has gone public about it. It is handling the issue in a consultative manner involving the public and the report will be debated publicly.The leader of the project, Col. Robert Rusoke says the exercise comes up, among others, for two good reasons. First of all, one of President Museveni’s key campaign issues and his justification for another five-year term was that the army needed to be built into a professional institution.Secondly, there has been a huge public outcry over defence expenditure, with the ministry consistently taking the lion’s share of the budget and procurement scandals causing severe financial losses.“We are therefore trying to improve the armed forces - structure, systems and personnel,” says Col. Rusoke.But several soldiers who prefer anonymity say the most significant issue about this review is the timing, coming just when President Museveni is planning to quit State House come 2006. That would not mean anything, had it not been for the dishonourable record of armies in Uganda.Each regime has more or less had its own army. It is only Idi Amin who used the army of his predecessor Milton Obote and that is only because he led the army he commanded against his commander-in-chief. Uganda is therefore yet to have a truly professional army that works regardless of who is president. It is true the UPDF has proved more disciplined and people-friendly than its predecessors. But the most fundamental question that has plagued the minds of Ugandans, especially during presidential elections, is whether the UPDF would respect any leader other than Museveni. “The challenge therefore has been for Uganda to get an army that can stand the test of time and not crumble when Museveni leaves office, or take up arms if he lost an election,” says one officer. That would mean having a military force that is under civilian authority, a rarity in much of sub-Saharan Africa.“Uganda is not the only country carrying out defence reform, or the first one to do so,” says Col. Rusoke. “As soon as apartheid collapsed, South Africa moved to carry out a comprehensive defence review project to bring the military in tandem with the new constitutional and socio-economic framework.”A defence White Paper was formulated that addressed, among others, how the numerous guerilla groups that had been fighting the apartheid regime could be integrated into the mainstream army. There was also need for re-visiting and re-formatting the civil-military relations, sorting out power relations within the army and standardising ranks (taking into account that even the guerillas had their own ranks). More importantly, the role of the army had to be re-defined now that the guerilla threat had been done away with and a new threat assessment carried out.In recognition of the changed post-Cold War strategic environment, the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) provided a reassessment of Britain’s security interests and defence needs, and considered how the roles, missions and capabilities of her armed forces should be adjusted to meet these new realities. The SDR concluded that the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces should not only defend the UK and its interests, but also be a force for good in the world, and help prevent and contain crises.During the SDR, conflict prevention and peacetime diplomacy were acknowledged as core defence activities. A new defence mission defence diplomacy was created to give greater priority, impetus and coherence to these types of activities, and to ensure alignment with the government’s foreign and security policy objectives. Sierra Leone and Botswana have also carried out defence review exercises recently.Following the September 11 attacks, the US too embarked on a marathon defence review strategy as it turned out the available defences were not relevant to the prevailing threats. In 1997, ministry of defence commissioned a project, the Logistics and Accounting Reform (LARP) financed by the International Development Agency of the World Bank.The major objective was to study and make recommendations for the reform of the logistics and financial management systems of the Ministry of Defence and UPDF to enable it tighten budgetary accounting and financial control. The resultant recommendations were not effected.In July 1998, another study known as the Uganda Defence Efficiency Study (UDES) made recommendations for reform in planning and budgeting; logistics management systems, procurement and purchasing and management of the pay roll. The government of Uganda sought further support from the British Government to implement the reform in the defence sector.A subsequent seminar in February 2001, gave birth to a draft proposal for a Uganda defence Reform programme (UDPR), to be implemented by the Defence Reform Unit (DRU) in various phases.First will be a threat assessment, an analysis of military, economic, political, social, environmental and international threats carried out through a wide consultative process within the security organisations, academicians, the civil society and other stakeholders.Next will be the foreign policy stage. Spearheaded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this will consider Uganda’s international and regional obligations seeking to explain our foreign policy objectives and interests.The threat assessment and foreign policy outputs will be used to draw up a security policy for Uganda. That will lead to development of a defence policy that will identify the missions the UPDF should undertake in support of the country security policy and or any other obligations such as assistance to the civil authorities.“The exercise will come up with a White Paper that will be subjected to public scrutiny and debate,” says Col. Rusoke. “For the first time ever, Ugandans will have opportunity to participate in formulating their country’s military policy.”Whether or not this project will be fruitful will depend on how open the debate is and on government’s willingness to listen to public opinion on the reforms to be effected.If that is done, then the most crucial areas that need reform, working within a realistic budget, accountability and finances and transparency in procurement, will be changed for the better.The most important consequence of this project for Uganda, however, ought to be a guarantee that the army will be not just efficient in operation, but truly professional, detached from politics and subject to any civilian president voted into State House. That will be a guarantee of political and military stability, meaning change of government will not mean transition to chaos. That will possibly be the greatest political legacy of the Museveni administration.