Life on the line: How are Ugandan soldiers rewarded?
Mar 13, 2007
IMAGINE spending fifteen years of your life training to finally become a soldier. No wonder President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces <br>(UPDF), called for soldiers’ salaries to be raised.
By Joshua Kato
IMAGINE spending fifteen years of your life training to finally become a soldier. No wonder President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces
(UPDF), called for soldiers’ salaries to be raised.
Last week, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier Noble Mayombo, said the same thing during an appearance in Parliament. “We are discussing with the Ministry of Finance to see if we can get an increment in the next financial year.â€
UPDF earnings
Ugandan soldiers are the least paid in the region. Privates earn sh140,000 per month, lieutenants sh320,000, captains sh420,000, majors about sh600,000, while colonels earn about sh800,000. Generals earn between sh1m for brigadiers (one star generals) to sh2.5m for a full general. This includes a risk fee and ration allowance.
This is however, far below the salaries of soldiers in neighbouring countries. For example in Kenya, a private who has just come out of training, is paid the equivalent of Ush480,000, which is more than what is paid to a captain in Uganda. This is almost the same scale used in Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and other countries.
Countries like South-Africa, Botswana and Angola pay their soldiers much higher than East-African countries.
In addition to the salaries, soldiers are also entitled to free medical treatment and housing.
However, as far as other amenities in life are concerned, soldiers do their shopping in the same shops as other civil servants.
“We take our children to the same schools as members of other professions, buy from the same shops, but above all, engage in more risky ventures like being shot on duty,†says a soldier. He argues that they need to be paid better.
Standard of living in the army
For many years, UPDF soldiers have survived in poor conditions as a result of a small budget. Soldiers in many detachments, still sleep in small huts known as mama ingiya pole (mummy enter slowly).
In the last few years however, several new and better shelters have been constructed in Kakiri, Katabi, Kasenyi, Kalama and Kasese.
Soldiers are entitled to three sets of uniforms per year. If for example, a soldier is in an operational area like the north, he puts on his uniform most of the time. As a result, these uniforms wear out quickly.
A few years ago, photos of UPDF soldiers in torn uniforms were taken in the north, just after a fierce engagement with the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
Soldiers are also entitled to free primary and secondary education for their children.
“Unlike other professions where most of these benefits are given in cash, for us, most of them are in kind. This means that if your child is not near an army school, he or she cannot benefit from the system. But those who receive the benefits in cash can take their children to schools of their choice,†says a UPDF soldier.
Risky job
Being a soldier is one of the most risky professions. For example, Uganda has been going through several wars since independence.
Ever since the National Resistance Movement came to power, the National Resistance Army, later UPDF, has fought eight known rebel groups, and several shadow groups. This includes wars in the Congo and Sudan, all in defence of this country.
“It is hard to imagine how it feels to sleep in the freezing environment of the Rwenzoris, but that is what I did for months, as we battled the Allied Defence Forces rebels,†says a UPDF Captain.
While fighting in the north, soldiers spend months under the unpredictable Imatong mountains. In the Congo, soldiers did not only endure the fear of being eaten by some cannibal tribes, they also had to walk for over 1,000 miles as they returned home.
Accountants and auditors sit in air-conditioned offices and look at figures; teachers stand infront of their students; doctors do rounds in hospitals, but soldiers walk for miles and miles through the bushes, looking for LRA rebels or other insurgents.
Handling hundreds
Very few average managers in Uganda handle more than 50 people. However, for soldiers, this is a daily routine. A lieutenant commands at least 100 soldiers a day, with his earnings, compared to a Grade III primary teacher who earns at least sh200,000, teaching an average of 50 pupils for a combined three hours, five days a week.
A major commands a battalion of between 700-1,000 men, normally with a captain as second-in-command. “These are armed men and women who are looking at you for direction,†says a UPDF battalion commander.
A colonel commands a brigade of 3,000 soldiers or four battalions, while a brigadier commands a division of 10,000 soldiers. In Uganda, very few managers are in charge of 10,000 people in their companies. In comparison, UPDF division commanders are in charge of 10,000 armed men.
A major general is supposed to command an army of two divisions or 20,000 men, while generals command armies of at least 40,000 soldiers and above.
Tiring Training
Arguments that people in other professions earn more because they are highly-educated have been raised in different fora. However, it is worth noting that no profession is as involving and educative as the army.
In terms of training, it takes at least a year for one to become a lieutenant in the army, if he or she joined as an officer cadet. Officer cadets normally join as professionals. In-takes, trained at Jinja Junior Staff College, mainly include diploma and degree holders.
However, on pass out, they are lieutenants earning sh320,000, compared to colleagues who may have joined formal professions as business executives, who earn seven-figure salaries.
By the time a cadet who joined as a degree holder passes out and is commissioned, he or she is comparable to a masters degree holder in the formal profession.
It takes at least nine courses for one to become a colonel. This takes at least 15 years. At this level, in a professional force, one is comparable to a third degree holder.
It takes at least 20 years for one to become a major general of the army. In a formal profession, vis-Ã -vis the undertaken training and work experience, one is at the level of a doctorate holder.
So many officers in the UPDF who went to the bush joined with degrees in the 1980s. Some were lawyers, political and social scientists, doctors and economists.
If they had not been in the forces, they could be eminent researchers and PHD holders in their various fields. Today, many of these officers are star generals.
It is also worth noting that military training, especially at the officers’ level, at Kimaka for example, is not just about commanding troops and shooting. The component involves elements of formal education including development studies, social sciences and business administration.
The President has been calling upon professionals to join the forces. However, although quite a number have joined, others are holding back because of the disparity in salaries.
Small budget
As calls for an increase in soldiers’ salaries gain momentum, the issue of the small budget has to be considered. In the 2006/2007 budget, sh350b was allocated to the defence ministry. However, of this amount, around sh132b is spent on soldiers’ salaries.
According to the army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye, where as other civil servants received significant salary rises in the last few years, soldiers did not.
“In 2001/2002, the finance ministry made a 10% salary increment for all public officers. In 2004, they made an increment of 5%. They were all paid, except the UPDF,†Kulaigye says.
If an increment of around 20% is made, around sh27b should be added to the salaries in the next financial year. This will certainly be one of the highest wage expenditure rises in the history of the defence ministry.
Wages comprise almost 50% of the total defence budget allocations. In the 2002/2003 financial year, sh238b was allocated to defence. Of this amount, around sh110b was for wages. In the 2004/2005 financial year, sh347b was allocated to defence. Of this, around sh130b went to wages.
There was a remarkable increase in wage allocations for the UPDF in 2002 and 2003, but this increase did not register in real terms to individual soldiers.
This rise was largely due to the creation of the 5th Division in Pader and auxiliary forces of the Arrow and Amuka, to counter insurgency in the north and north-east.
This means that soldiers have not had any significant salary raise and this would be the time to have one.
IMAGINE spending fifteen years of your life training to finally become a soldier. No wonder President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces
(UPDF), called for soldiers’ salaries to be raised.
Last week, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier Noble Mayombo, said the same thing during an appearance in Parliament. “We are discussing with the Ministry of Finance to see if we can get an increment in the next financial year.â€
UPDF earnings
Ugandan soldiers are the least paid in the region. Privates earn sh140,000 per month, lieutenants sh320,000, captains sh420,000, majors about sh600,000, while colonels earn about sh800,000. Generals earn between sh1m for brigadiers (one star generals) to sh2.5m for a full general. This includes a risk fee and ration allowance.
This is however, far below the salaries of soldiers in neighbouring countries. For example in Kenya, a private who has just come out of training, is paid the equivalent of Ush480,000, which is more than what is paid to a captain in Uganda. This is almost the same scale used in Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and other countries.
Countries like South-Africa, Botswana and Angola pay their soldiers much higher than East-African countries.
In addition to the salaries, soldiers are also entitled to free medical treatment and housing.
However, as far as other amenities in life are concerned, soldiers do their shopping in the same shops as other civil servants.
“We take our children to the same schools as members of other professions, buy from the same shops, but above all, engage in more risky ventures like being shot on duty,†says a soldier. He argues that they need to be paid better.
Standard of living in the army
For many years, UPDF soldiers have survived in poor conditions as a result of a small budget. Soldiers in many detachments, still sleep in small huts known as mama ingiya pole (mummy enter slowly).
In the last few years however, several new and better shelters have been constructed in Kakiri, Katabi, Kasenyi, Kalama and Kasese.
Soldiers are entitled to three sets of uniforms per year. If for example, a soldier is in an operational area like the north, he puts on his uniform most of the time. As a result, these uniforms wear out quickly.
A few years ago, photos of UPDF soldiers in torn uniforms were taken in the north, just after a fierce engagement with the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels.
Soldiers are also entitled to free primary and secondary education for their children.
“Unlike other professions where most of these benefits are given in cash, for us, most of them are in kind. This means that if your child is not near an army school, he or she cannot benefit from the system. But those who receive the benefits in cash can take their children to schools of their choice,†says a UPDF soldier.
Risky job
Being a soldier is one of the most risky professions. For example, Uganda has been going through several wars since independence.
Ever since the National Resistance Movement came to power, the National Resistance Army, later UPDF, has fought eight known rebel groups, and several shadow groups. This includes wars in the Congo and Sudan, all in defence of this country.
“It is hard to imagine how it feels to sleep in the freezing environment of the Rwenzoris, but that is what I did for months, as we battled the Allied Defence Forces rebels,†says a UPDF Captain.
While fighting in the north, soldiers spend months under the unpredictable Imatong mountains. In the Congo, soldiers did not only endure the fear of being eaten by some cannibal tribes, they also had to walk for over 1,000 miles as they returned home.
Accountants and auditors sit in air-conditioned offices and look at figures; teachers stand infront of their students; doctors do rounds in hospitals, but soldiers walk for miles and miles through the bushes, looking for LRA rebels or other insurgents.
Handling hundreds
Very few average managers in Uganda handle more than 50 people. However, for soldiers, this is a daily routine. A lieutenant commands at least 100 soldiers a day, with his earnings, compared to a Grade III primary teacher who earns at least sh200,000, teaching an average of 50 pupils for a combined three hours, five days a week.
A major commands a battalion of between 700-1,000 men, normally with a captain as second-in-command. “These are armed men and women who are looking at you for direction,†says a UPDF battalion commander.
A colonel commands a brigade of 3,000 soldiers or four battalions, while a brigadier commands a division of 10,000 soldiers. In Uganda, very few managers are in charge of 10,000 people in their companies. In comparison, UPDF division commanders are in charge of 10,000 armed men.
A major general is supposed to command an army of two divisions or 20,000 men, while generals command armies of at least 40,000 soldiers and above.
Tiring Training
Arguments that people in other professions earn more because they are highly-educated have been raised in different fora. However, it is worth noting that no profession is as involving and educative as the army.
In terms of training, it takes at least a year for one to become a lieutenant in the army, if he or she joined as an officer cadet. Officer cadets normally join as professionals. In-takes, trained at Jinja Junior Staff College, mainly include diploma and degree holders.
However, on pass out, they are lieutenants earning sh320,000, compared to colleagues who may have joined formal professions as business executives, who earn seven-figure salaries.
By the time a cadet who joined as a degree holder passes out and is commissioned, he or she is comparable to a masters degree holder in the formal profession.
It takes at least nine courses for one to become a colonel. This takes at least 15 years. At this level, in a professional force, one is comparable to a third degree holder.
It takes at least 20 years for one to become a major general of the army. In a formal profession, vis-Ã -vis the undertaken training and work experience, one is at the level of a doctorate holder.
So many officers in the UPDF who went to the bush joined with degrees in the 1980s. Some were lawyers, political and social scientists, doctors and economists.
If they had not been in the forces, they could be eminent researchers and PHD holders in their various fields. Today, many of these officers are star generals.
It is also worth noting that military training, especially at the officers’ level, at Kimaka for example, is not just about commanding troops and shooting. The component involves elements of formal education including development studies, social sciences and business administration.
The President has been calling upon professionals to join the forces. However, although quite a number have joined, others are holding back because of the disparity in salaries.
Small budget
As calls for an increase in soldiers’ salaries gain momentum, the issue of the small budget has to be considered. In the 2006/2007 budget, sh350b was allocated to the defence ministry. However, of this amount, around sh132b is spent on soldiers’ salaries.
According to the army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye, where as other civil servants received significant salary rises in the last few years, soldiers did not.
“In 2001/2002, the finance ministry made a 10% salary increment for all public officers. In 2004, they made an increment of 5%. They were all paid, except the UPDF,†Kulaigye says.
If an increment of around 20% is made, around sh27b should be added to the salaries in the next financial year. This will certainly be one of the highest wage expenditure rises in the history of the defence ministry.
Wages comprise almost 50% of the total defence budget allocations. In the 2002/2003 financial year, sh238b was allocated to defence. Of this amount, around sh110b was for wages. In the 2004/2005 financial year, sh347b was allocated to defence. Of this, around sh130b went to wages.
There was a remarkable increase in wage allocations for the UPDF in 2002 and 2003, but this increase did not register in real terms to individual soldiers.
This rise was largely due to the creation of the 5th Division in Pader and auxiliary forces of the Arrow and Amuka, to counter insurgency in the north and north-east.
This means that soldiers have not had any significant salary raise and this would be the time to have one.