By Kampala Post Reporter
President Yoweri Museveni says government embarked on recruitment of the Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel as a way of ‘immunizing’ the country against insecurity.
Museveni made the remarks on Saturday during pass out of another batch of over 6370 LDU personnel at Kaweweta Recruits Training School in Nakaseke district. He noted that some sections of society were using crime to undermine the country’s progress and thus a need for government to act.
He expressed gratitude for the enthusiasm exhibited by the LDUs in joining the fight against criminality in large numbers adding that Uganda has a large quality human resource due to good education system. He added that there were 69 University graduates, 340 diploma holders and over 600 S.6 certificate holders among the LDUs.
The Commander-in-Chief welcomed more of such good quality human resource into the Armed Forces saying they are easier to train and add value to the overall security infrastructure of the country. President Museveni urged the graduands to be ready for further training for their career progression.
"Continuously develop your skills because the future is bright if you know what to do," he said, adding that preservation of a soldier's health is another life time requirement from each individual soldier.
The Chief of Defence Forces Gen David Muhoozi noted that the training aimed at boosting the security of Uganda. He implored graduands to maintain discipline and put the country above self.
Brig Gen JR Ruheesi, the Commandant of Kaweweta Recruits Training School congratulated the LDUs and praised both the UPDF leadership and local community for embracing the program. He urged Intake 03 trainees to remain patriotic, tolerant and loyal in execution of their duties.
Hebert Wasaja emerged best overall student, Simon Kamya was best in the shooting range while Loyce Kihembo was the best female trainee. The newly trained Six Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Six (6376) personnel, 311 of whom are females, were mainly drawn from Central and some parts of Eastern Uganda.
The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces has since July embarked on recruitment of a total of 13,000 LDU personnel from selected districts in Central, Eastern, Northern and Mid-western Uganda.
The recruitment aimed at enhancing the existing foundation security arrangement in the country to ensure the people and their property are secure at grass root levels. The recruits have undergone four months of basic military training and shall be deployed to serve in their respective districts of recruitment.
