Defence Paid Sh300m To ‘Ghosts’

By Emmy Allio THE defence ministry lost about sh300m in salary payment to ghost soldiers between January and April this year, preliminary findings have revealed. Sources said another payment to ghost soldiers totaling sh289m for salaries for May, June and July, was stopped and cash was being held with the army’s directorate of finance whose staff are also being investigated. A separate investigation is also being conducted on the circumstances under which the army has lost the money through double payment to soldiers with double service numbers. Sources said about sh36m is being lost monthly through double payment to 258 soldiers. Other sources said the number of ghost soldiers could be as high as 2,000, affecting mostly units in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last week, the army instituted a probe led by a senior officer and counter-intelligence personnel. The Director of Records (DOR) Maj. Sabiiti Mutengesa’s involvement was restricted within Bombo barracks. Five other soldiers have also been arrested. The investigations involve 273 “soldiers” who are purported to have been recruited and trained at Ssingo and Kabamba army training schools, and later passed out and given army service numbers. Initially the ghost soldiers were estimated to be 350. “The aim of the current investigations is to find out who deployed the 273 “soldiers,” allotted service numbers and deployed them in Bombo barracks?” a source told The New Vision yesterday. The Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Jeje Odongo, yesterday dismissed reports of witch-hunting. Jeje said, “It is a fact that 273 ghost soldiers existed in our records. The director of records, Major Sabiiti is an officer of high discipline and repute. I knew him when he was still a cadet. But he has to explain how these ghost soldiers entered into army records.” The issue was first raised on July 28, in a letter from Kazini office to Sabiiti. “Declare to my office a tabulated payable strength of UPDF,” the letter, copied to the defence minister, the army commander, all directors at army headquarters, the divisions and CMI, said. Kazini has denied victimization when he ordered for Sabiiti’s arrest. “The man knows about creation of army service numbers. We found out that some people had two service numbers while other service numbers represented no human beings,” he said. The New Vision has established that the meeting that ordered the probe and arrest of Sabiiti took place on August 9, in Bombo and was attended by commandant of Bombo barracks, Col. Hussein Ada, the assistant Chief of Staff, Col. Fred Tolit and the deputy Chief of Operations and Training, Col. Gutti. They found that the ministry almost lost another sh288, 849,713 in salaries to ‘ghosts’. Ends