Hundreds fail to join UPDF

Tears rolled down at Busimbi gombolola grounds in Mityana municipality as hundreds of youth who had turned up to be recruited in the Uganda Peoples defense forces were shut down for not meeting the qualifications.

Although the recruitment exercise always takes a few hours, this time, the UPDF recruiting team took almost all day scrutinizing the applicants, and many were turned off just at the first stages of the application.

Lt Wilson Kato Kagaba the Mityana recruiting team spokesperson said they targeted to recruit only 23 from Mityana but were overwhelmed by the big turn up.

"The number is too big and we want only twenty three but we are carefully and professionally holding the exercise that we take on the right persons," Lt Kato said.

He said some had failed because of lack of academic qualifications, as they failed to provide documents, like slips confirming their qualifications.

"Some had not come with essentials like national Identification cards while others even could just be seen by their physical appearance that they were not fit," he added.

Capt Yahaya Kakooza, the Mityana district resident Commissioner (RDC) expressed concern over the big number of youth turned away because of lack of academic qualifications.

"It is a pitty that they are recruiting young people and they are missing the opportunity because they did not go to school. This should be a lesson to all our people that Education is so important to our children," Kakooza said.