‘Army cannot look on when disorder is ruining Uganda’

You were appointed minister in May 2016. What can you say you have achieved so far?
For the first time, a department of veterans affairs was added to the Ministry of Defence. The ministry had been strictly for Defence. But His Excellency in his wisdom expanded the scope of work to cover issues affecting veterans.
And I think this was a correct move; I think [when] veterans retire from the army, the government should take interest in [their] welfare, whereabouts and what is happening to them. This is not only done in Uganda. I have benchmarked with other countries such as Egypt, Israel and the UK.
In our case, we had a provision in the law—the UPDF Act for the Reserve Force. Most of these veterans were part of the Reserve Force. But government now recognises them. It’s under the political supervision of my colleague Bright Rwamirama and it’s a directorate under the ministry.
But one of the most important achievements is that since 2016, our retirees get on the payroll to get their pension. Therefore, pension management has improved.

But we see cases of retired soldiers complaining daily…
There is the issue of arrears. Soldiers have been retiring for long and they were not paid on time. We actually have pension arrears of about Shs500b and that’s not a small thing. But we are working closely with the ministry of Finance to make sure that these arrears are paid.
The pensioners who are retiring now, they get their pension as soon as they retire. As a matter fact, the ministry of Finance has started paying part of the pension arrears because it’s not a small task because we have to verify these pensioners.

On retirement, we recently saw a list of top generals due to retire next year. Please take us through this system that automatically retires officers
I think generals retire at the age of 65 and other soldiers have their retirement ages. Another batch of generals retired early this year and another batch will retire next year.
This is very good for the country because in the past as you know, the generals would never retire. But now, we are happy that the generals can retire when they come of age, they settle in their country and contribute to the development of Uganda in different capacities.

But we have had cases of officers who want to retire and their requests are turned down like Gen David Sejusa. Will this new system automatically end such cases?
Of course there are laws. These laws don’t apply to the UPDF alone. If you have a case to answer, you can’t be allowed to retire until those cases are disposed of.
So, the same principle applies to UPDF. But as soon as those cases are cleared, they are allowed to retired. Gen Sejusa is one of those lined up to retire next year because he has no more cases to answer with the UPDF or government.

Was the veterans’ department formed because of veterans over complaining about unpaid pension like they did in 2013 and 2014?
Those complaints will always be there, even in some developed countries. But there is always time for everything. If you have been keen to see where this army came from, you will appreciate. It has come from a liberation army to a professional army. But also, our economy has expanded, we can now afford to have a department of veteran affairs. Again most of the wars have ended. The LRA war is finished, the ADF is defeated. So, it’s the time for us to now look at the welfare of our soldiers.

How can you call UPDF a professional army when we saw soldiers beating up civilians during peaceful demonstrations in Kampala?
But being a professional army does not mean the army will not use appropriate force where it’s necessary! There is no contradiction between the two. There are mistakes, which are committed by some of our soldiers like torture which the Commander-In- Chief has condemned.
Having a professional army does not mean there will never be an error. There are errors always—even in America, Britain, where armies have professionalised for long.
So, the errors are there, but the overall picture, the UPDF is definitely a professional army.

Has the army taken over the role of the police? Because every time there are demonstrations in town, we see soldiers coming out first
It’s within the law. It allows the army to support the civilian authority. The law also allows the army to support the police. That is proper because there is no way the army can look on when disorder and instability is ruining the country and you call yourself a national army.

But why high handedness?
But I have already told you that where there is high handedness, it’s punished by the military law.

If I can take you back to ADF, why do you say it is finished when you are heavily deployed in western Uganda to stop them from attacking?
You have to look at the strength ADF had in 1996, when it started its offensive against government, especially in Rwenzori sub-region. It also mounted terrorist activities in Kampala City. They were planting bombs around the city, in bars, in shops. Those no longer happen. ADF was not only in DR Congo, it was in Bundibugyo, Kabarole, Kasese. They killed so many people, including students in Kichwamba.
The fact that it was driven out of territory of Uganda, the fact that the overall commander, Jamil Mukulu is in detention to answer charges of terrorism and treason, shows that ADF is on the way to being wiped out. The remnants of course are still there in DR Congo. But they don’t pose any threat to the stability of Uganda.