Army To Meet Over Dry Rations

By Yunusu Abbey THE Army High Command meets this month under Lt. Gen Yoweri Museveni's chairmanship to discuss a number of issues. "The agenda is being drawn. All that remains is for the chairman and Commander-in-Chief (Museveni) to fix the date," said a source. High on the agenda is the issue of the dry rations imported from South Africa in 1999. "We are demanding for an explanation about what exactly happened since we rejected the consignment," the source said. The tinned ration, worth about sh2b, has been lying at the Uganda Railways Corporation goodshed in Jinja since 1999. The UPDF rejected it on grounds that it was unfit for human consumption. By February 28, the storage charges had reached about sh230m. But the UPDF officers, including Col. Fred Bogere, the chief of logistics and engineering, told The New Vision the army would not pay for the demurrage because it had never accepted the rations. The rejected consignment comprises tinned chicken stew, beans and biscuits. The Ministry of Justice wants to reach an out of court settlement with Kramer Trade and Technology (KT&T), a South African firm that supplied the ration. They said the army would have a bad case if KT&T sued them. The New Vision has learnt that the issue of training in the UPDF will also feature in the high command meeting. Reports said the soldiers also want the army to standardise training and retirement from the Force. Also on the agenda is the question of housing in the army. Ends