Govt apologises for deploying army to DRC without approval

Government has apologised for not briefing Parliament on the ongoing fight against Allied Defence Forces (ADF) in the DR Congo.

The admission was made yesterday when MPs on the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs interrogated officials from the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs over their request to obtain Shs89b for the operation.

“We can take political responsibility for not coming to brief Parliament. There are still a lot of learning and strategic meetings taking place even right now in the DRC because it is quite complicated. These people had penetrated our systems here. There was a total need to surprise our enemies which was done, they were surprised, overwhelmed and overrun,” Mr Jacob Markson Oboth, the State Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs (Defence), said.

Mr Oboth said it was strategic for them not to divulge too much information on the operation.

His response came after Mr Theodore Ssekikubo, the Lwemiyaga County MP, wondered why the army, which had previously refused to seek approval from the House, was now seeking approval to fund the exercise.

“Since November (2021) when those activities began, how have you been funding it and you are not telling us how much money you have been using on Operation Shujaa? Is it being derived from elsewhere, not the budget, who is funding this operation? Maybe, you continue funding it the way you have been doing. You can continue in your own way since you chose to run away from Parliament,” Mr Ssekikubo said.

Operation Shujaa, mainly focuses on identifying and weakening identified ADF enemy camps in DRC.

Mr Ssekikubo has been among the legislators who have been demanding government representatives (during previous plenary sessions) to provide detailed explanations on the UPDF deployment in Congo, but in vain.

Article 210 of the Constitution requires the government to seek Parliament’s approval before deploying troops outside the country.

Regarding the Shs89b request, Mr Oboth defended the expenditure, saying: “There is no war which is cheaper because we need to have equipment, feed them (army) and you know DRC is full of forests, the soldiers have to maneuver.”

Mr Abdallah Kiwanuka (Mukono North, NUP) asked the ministry to explain when the operation will end and how long the army intends to stay in DRC.

In the 2022/2023 budget framework paper, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated Shs4 trillion and of this, Shs696b will go towards wage payment, Shs1 trillion for recurrent expenditure, while Shs29b will go towards payment of arrears, Shs406b forpayment of African Union Mission in Somalia troops and Shs2 trillion towards capital investment of army projects.

Ms Edith Buturo, the Under Secretary at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, said in the breakdown, about Shs81b will go towards logistics, Shs4b to medical treatment of troops and Shs3b to communication equipment.