UPDF has no money for buying uniform ....................................Pressed by financial constraints, the UPDF may not afford a second pair of uniform and boots for its soldiers this year, with enough food also in doubt, according to the ministry of Defence policy statement. The army’s dressing policy requires a soldier to have at least two pairs of uniform per year, but this year, the soldiers will have to make do with one pair if the ministry of Finance goes ahead to cut this year’s Defence budget vote for uniforms by almost half. The 2013/2014 ministerial policy statement, presented before Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs committee, says the ministry of Finance has allocated Shs 10.9bn out of the projected total of Shs 31.9bn required by the ministry to buy the minimum two pairs of uniform. Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga is supposed to defend the statement before the committee next week. “In order to appropriately dress the troops as per dressing policy, every military personnel is required to have two pairs of uniform per year,” reads the ministerial policy statement, in part. “This requires Shs 31.9bn against a budget allocation of Shs 10.9bn,” it goes on to explain, adding, “This therefore means the troops will not be adequately dressed,” the statement says. Other assorted items the ministry wants to procure, according to the policy statement include stocks of ranger boots, service socks, T-shirts, gum boots, warm suits, Bivoc tents, back pack, belts, pancho, water bottles, ground sheets, ceremonial suits, ceremonial shoes, gadgets pips, crown arm and chevrons and general equipment. The Defence ministry will, among other things, focus on procuring marine equipment such as patrol boats, fibre glass boats, and outboard engines on top of buying spares for repair of the navigation systems in this financial year. For transport, the ministry will procure a number of transport equipment, to ease transportation of troops and material to different operation areas. According to the statement, UPDF is faced with challenges such as accumulated domestic arrears, which have affected key areas like food, fuel, maintenance of vehicles and buying of uniforms for the UPDF officers. Source: observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26493:updf-has-no-money-for-buying-uniform&catid=34:news&Itemid=114
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 04:36:07 +0000
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