President Yoweri Museveni has said that the only person that would be interested in exposing details of Ugandan soldiers is its enemy.
"If you are not working for the enemy, you cannot go on the social-media and demand that we publish the names of the personnel of UPDF, their ranks, and their jobs," the president tweeted Thursday morning. "The only thing we can say and what you know is that recruitment into the Police and UPDF is by quota."
If you are not working for the enemy, you cannot go on the social-media and demand that we publish the names of the personnel of UPDF, their ranks, and their jobs. The only thing we can say and what you know is that recruitment into the Police and UPDF is by quota.
— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) September 3, 2020
The president made the remarks as he continued his discussion on the topic of tribalism in the public service that has recenlty swept through social media and other public discussions.
Museveni, who is also the commander-in-chief, noted that the UPDF makes a lot of sacrifices to defend this country and shouldn't be involved in "in the circus of sectarianism".
"Coming to the Armed Forces, my advice to all of you, is that leave your Army out of that nonsense. The NRA, the UPDF are Armies of sacrifice, all the time for no pay or low pay. They (we) put their lives on the line. Therefore, leave UPDF out of the circus of sectarianism," he said, calling for an end to sectarianism debates.
"Beyond that, leave our Army alone and I mean, leave our Army alone. Also preaching sectarianism on the media (social and otherwise) should stop. Although I am always ready to explain, also remember that such false allegations, carelessly or maliciously made, are criminal."
On the issue of Banyankole scooping up most of the key public sector jobs, he said that the people at the helm of recruitment are non-Banyakole, which indicates that the recruitment process is meritocratic.
"Therefore, even if the Public service was dominated by the Banyankore, it may not help that community to be any better than the others. Besides, the claim that the Banyankore or the Westerners are monopolizing the 480,000 Public service jobs cannot be true," he said.
"Why and how would those Banyankore dominate the Public Service where the Public Service Commission was last held by a Westerner, the late Mzee Bikangaga from 1979 to 1990," he went on.
"Since that time, the Public service Commission has been headed by Zikusooka, a Musoga, Muzaale, a Musoga, Ralph Ochan, an Acholi, and the membership is always balanced. The Education Service Commission was headed by Waggwa Lubega for a long time. The current chairperson of the Education Service Commission is Sam Luboga, a Musoga. The Chairperson of the Health Service Commission is Dr. Pius Okong, a 'munyankore' from Teso."
According to the president, the leaders of the public service commissions are all very highly qualified people in their fields and "if they recruit only Banyankore, those Banyankore must be exceptionally gifted."
"We shall get to the bottom of this nonsense," he said.