Yes, defence budget should not be raised!

SIR— On July 18, The New Vision had a story that MPs want the defence budget cut. I support this for the following reasons:Every time we hear that the defence budget is big, but we continue to get a lot of unexplained problems in the UPDF. For instance, the salary itself is nothing compared to the suffering we are encountering. There is no uniform, no trucks, the 10% salary increment of last year is not seen. Unless all these issues are rectified, there is no point raising the defence budget.Name withheld on requestSIR— I refer to The New Vision of July 18 which had the story that MPs want the defence budget cut. Among the points raised was the one that the UPDF had failed to wipe out Kony and protect the people in Acholi. There are many causes.For instance, if an MP who earns sh3m a month plus other privileges is not satisfied with that much, how do you expect a soldier who earns only sh130,000 without any operation allowance to continue pursuing Kony? We have suffered since 1986 with our families; to date we have not built houses for our families at home. We can’t even afford a bicycle. The 10% salary increment last year is not seen. Name withheld on request