IGANGA – About 15 youth were, on Monday, July 29, arrested for tendering in fake academic documents at the recruitment exercise of Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel at Iganga District headquarters.
The suspects were part of hundreds of youth who had turned up for the recruitment exercise from the five districts of Luuka, Bugiri, Namutumba, Buyende and Iganga.
The exercise kicked off well with parents and relatives escorting their sons and daughters to vie for the jobs; however, as the screening started, 15 people were found in possession of forged academic documents and were arrested.
The UPDF spokesman for Busoga Sub-region, Capt George Musinguzi, said the suspects, who were in possession of forged O-level pass slips and National Identity cards, were handed over to police.
“Some of them presented O-level and Primary Seven slips with names different from those on their national Identity cards, while others whitewashed some results and turned passes into credits,” Capt Musinguzi said.
Mr Patrick Lumumba, one of the suspects, asked the officials to blame the inconsistencies in his documents to either his former school or Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
The Primary Seven result slip presented by Mr Lumumba suggested that he sat from Lira Kato Primary School in Lira District in 2013, but officials rejected it on grounds that the material from which it was made was different from those issued by UNEB.
The arrested were taken to Iganga Police Station as investigations continue.
The countrywide recruitment of LDUs that started on July 15 has so far attracted an unprecedented number of applicants, mainly male youth aged between 19 and 30 years old and holders of a Uganda Certificate of Education or O’Level certificate. The government is looking for 13,000 recruits across the country to bolster the numbers of the Reserve Force of the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF)
In Rubaga Division of Kampala city, only 156 were required but over 1000 showed up at the recruitment grounds at Mutesa II Stadium in Wankulukuku Stadium.
Similar scenes were repeated across the country as heavily perspiring young men and a few women, the men with only trousers on and no shirts queued in the baking sweltering July sun to be screened. They were made to jump, squat, roll in the grass, and open their mouths to be poked in health checks.