Zombo district given 51 slots in UPDF recruitment exercise

Zombo, (UG):- The West Nile district of Zombo which comprises 15 lower local government administrative units and about 280,000 people has been allocated a quota of 51 slots for candidates to be recruited into the regular infantry force of Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) which starts in July, DailyExpress understands.

Last month (May 2024), UPDF broke silence on the recruitment of over 9,000 Ugandans into the infantry Forces and quotas for each district were published based on the population of the particular district or the equivalents of a district.

The quota in the case of Zombo district when spread across the 15 town councils and subcounties will see each unit fronting at most 3 candidates for the recruitment exercise scheduled for 9th and 10th July 2024 in Nebbi district for the applicants who hail from Zombo district.

Maj Paul Irumba, the Operations and Training officer at 57 battalions in Zombo District told DailyExpress that only candidates who were successful in interviews and are short-listed will be the ones considered for recruitment.

“Eligible applicants are supposed to submit a handwritten application letter addressed to the joint chief of staff human resource department and deliver it to the office of RDC later a short list for interviews will be displayed on the district notice board and only candidates successfully in the interviews will be recruited,” noted.

UPDF authorities have disclosed that successful candidates from Zombo and Nebbi will all be recruited from the centre that will be located in Nebbi district but on different days.

Some vigilant local area leaders have already reported cases of “flukes” from other neighbouring districts seeking recommendations as residents of Zombo district deny the indigenous the opportunity of benefiting from the limited available slot and it’s upon this backdrop that the local area leaders have pledged their presence during the recruitment exercise to absolve irregularities during the exercise and ensure the indigenous of Zombo who qualify are recruited without any single manipulation of identity as it has been the case in other past recruitment exercises.

Mr Innocent Onega, the LC3 chairperson of Paidha town council has sounded a warning to the UPDF recruitment Team on fluking their friends and relatives to occupy slots for the people Zombo district.

“This time we are not going to accept someone to snuggle a friend or relative to replace our sons and daughters we shall fight because I will be there physically what belongs to Zombo should be for Zombo,” Onega iterated furiously in his comment.

Only Ugandans aged 18 to 22 years and must have completed senior four between 2020 and 2023 are eligible for this regular infantry forces recruitment.