No discrimination in army promotions - Muhoozi

Gen. David Muhoozi. Photo/File

The Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), Gen. David Muhoozi has explained how army promotions are made.

Muhoozi who was the chief guest at a function to decorate newly promoted 29 senior army officers on Friday at the army headquarters in Mbuya, said there are factors informing the promotions.

He cited seniority, age and training among other factors. His remarks follow alleged discrimination in the army promotions.

"The period the officer has served in the force; their discipline and the nature of their profession are some of the factors considered," he explained.

Muhoozi said professionals in the fields of law, Medicine and Engineering stand a higher chance of receiving an earlier promotion than their counterparts.

Muhoozi also said UPDF considers gender mainstreaming in the promotions. A female officer, Col. Grace Kyomugisha was among the decorated.

The 29 officers were part of the 300 who were promoted in May by the Commander in Chief, President Yoweri Museveni. But some of the officers who were to be decorated didn't show up because they had other commitments.

Backlog

Army spokesperson Brig. Richard Karemire blamed the promotion backlog in the force on lack of training facilities in Uganda.  

Karemire explained that while the middle level army officers require specialised training before being promoted, the country has no military facilities for training.

He revealed that there is only one senior command and Staff College in Kimaka, eastern Uganda. He said the college only admits 30 officers every year.

Kiremire noted that UPDF doesn't have a national defence college that is required to train officers before being promoted to the rank of a brigadier and above.

He explained that almost all the top army officers in Uganda have been trained on scholarships awarded by foreign countries. Sunday Vision has learnt that each year, Uganda may get at least four scholarships from such countries.  

Retirement

On retirement that has put some top army officers at odds with the army establishment, Muhoozi said they have now come up with a formula to address it.

"We released a metric for discharging officers the other day. It only needs a few revisions," he said. "It's better for serving officers to know when they can leave."

Muhoozi asked officers worried about the retirement procedure to calm down.

Decorated officers

Most of the decorated officers were accompanied by their spouses. Muhoozi commended the spouses for enabling the officers to serve and grow in rank.

Maj. Gen. John Mugume who spoke on behalf of his colleagues who were decorated thanked God for the gift of life He has given some of them to be at the function. He also prayed for officers who died in struggles to liberate Uganda.  

Among the 29 officers who received new ranks, one was a major general; six brigadiers, and 22 colonels. 

The function was attended by a number of top army officers including the commander of land forces, Maj. Gen. Peter Elweru and Maj. Gen. Joseph Musanyufu the joint chief of staff.​