Hundreds turned away as LDU recruitment closes

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Hundreds of people have been turned away as the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces-UPDF closed the recruitment exercise for the Local Defence Unit-LDU personnel at the First Division headquarters in Kakiri, Wakiso district.

The exercise started on September 7th and ended on the 14th, after the recruitment of personnel from 10 districts in the central region, Mityana, Kassanda, Mubende, Mpigi, Wakiso, Kampala, Kyankwanzi, Kiboga, Nakaseke and Luwero.

Maj. Charles Kabona, the spokesperson of the First Division Command said that some candidates were turned away on different grounds like medical and others for lack of the requirements like academic documents.

He said that others came on days which their respective districts were not expected while others came when out of time.

Maj. Kabona said that the selected persons were taken directly for training.

He said that during the exercise, the army arrested at least 35 people for alleged forgery as well as conmen who went to villages and solicited money from unsuspecting candidates purporting to take them to join the unit.

He said that the candidates were expected to understand the recruitment centers, the dates for the respective districts and that anyone coming on wrong date and place would automatically be disqualified.

“I am happy to inform you that the exercise of interviewing candidates has been successfully closed at First Division headquarters, the number of candidates required from a district was dependent on the size of the population of the district,” Maj Kabona said.

Maj Kabona said that 400 candidates were recruited for Kampala while 716 were recruited in Wakiso after selecting those with required qualities.

Those who qualified, Maj Kabona said, are Ugandans with National IDs aged 18 to 29 years with a minimum academic qualification of Senior Four, Artisanal courses and above.

Maj. Kabona said that the candidates needed to be single and without family to enable them concentrate on the training whose period can only be determined by the authorities.

According to Maj Kabona, those recruited were selected from thousands who applied through Resident District Commissioners’ offices from whom a shortlist was done.

He said that the applicants were asked to submit their academic testimonials, letters from local authorities and one from GISO which were subjected to scrutiny before a shortlist was done.

Maj Kabona said the LDU personnel are recruited from villages and taken for training to come back and serve under their communities.

“They fall under the reserve force of the UPDF and hence they are directly under the command and control of the UPDF,” he added. “But after taking them, we shall train them and bring them back to their communities which they know very well and they will contribute to strengthening security in their respective areas.”

Maj Kabona revealed that the LDU personnel are serving under UPDF directly and therefore can give support to UPDF’s productive ventures.

“That is why we are recruiting LDUs and have qualified in artisan courses like carpentry, building and engineers, he added. “You can find an LDU driving a UPDF vehicle because they are answerable to the UPDF and the military law.”

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