Risdel Kasasira
11 May 2008
analysis
New evidence obtained exclusively by Inside Politics on the creation of ghost soldiers in the Uganda People's Defence Forces reveals details dating to as far back as 1996. Risdel Kasasira writes about these latest findings:-
Three hitherto unpublished reports which this magazine has obtained reveal how in a single month in 1996, a private Kampala accountacy firm managed to recover Shs256 million in would have been ghost payments in the 4th Division alone.
Another report, of a special investigation team comprising six army officers from the Special Investigation Branch of the Military Police compiled in July 2001 gives a fresh insight into the existence of ghosts in 1st and 2nd Divisions and their garrisons as well as at the general army headquarters. This particular report highlights intense fights then between the Directorate of Operations and Training (COT) and that of records in the perpetuation of ghosts.
Former army commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini and two other officers Lt. Col. Dura Mawa and Captain George Baryaguma were recently sentenced to three years in prison for their role in creation and perpetuation of ghosts on the army pay role.
Kazini who was specifically convicted for causing financial loss to the army to a tune of Shs61million has since been set free on bail pending an appeal.
But the latest information reveals that the ghosts by many years preceded Kazini's reign as army chief.
Implications to the war
The protagonists in the two-decade bloody war in northern Uganda have given varying reasons to justify the delay of its end. For the government, it has been resource constraints and interference by the external forces like Sudan's support to the elusive Joseph Kony and his rebel group Lords Resistance Army (LRA).
Politicians in the area have been accusing the government of showing less political will to end the war. True, some of the reasons like Sudan's support to LRA were beyond government's control.
But how about maintenance of ghosts on the army strength by a clique of 4th Division paymasters in the battle field and their bosses at the Army General Head quarters in Mbuya?
Keeping ghosts on the army pay roll was one of the reasons that made UPDF thin on the ground hence giving leeway for the rebels to attack and abduct people in the north.
According to a report by Nakayenga-Lewis & Associates (NLA), a certified Public Accountant and Management Consultants, "55 per cent of the reported force was actively on duty" during the first 48 days the company spent in northern Uganda verifying the strength of the soldiers on the pay roll.
The hiring of this private firm in June 1996 by the Ministry of Defence came after President Yoweri Museveni became suspicious of devious acts on the pay roll by the officers in the army Finance Department at Mbuya and paymasters in northern Uganda.
During this month of verifying exercise, the UPDF paymasters were suspended for a month and NLA employed use of payday parades to ascertain actual strength.
The report says after the payment of 28 battalions in Gulu and Kitgum, NLA remained with the balance of shs256, 394,464.
"We paid 18,448 soldiers which represented 79 per cent of the reported force and remained with a cash balance of Shs256,394,464." The report was sent to the then Principal Private Secretary to the President Eng. B.K. Kabanda (now Permanent Secretary Ministry of Energy) and Army Commander Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu.
Government had released
Shs1,206,900,264 as salary and Ration Cash Allowances for the 28 brigades which had been added to the 4 Division from other units to help encounter Kony insurgency. The investigation team suspected that this thieving had been going for many years since the war started in the late 80s.
The 4th Div has been commanded among others by Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu (Rtd.), Col. Kawaga, Col. Wasswa, Brig. Chefe Ali, Col. John Mugume and Maj. General James Kazini in 1997.
The report also says it found 21 per cent outright ghost soldiers who "had either fallen, deserted, never existed, or existed but not physically present on station" and 24 per cent at the time was non-effective strength.
"The majority of these soldiers had gone Away Without Leave (AWOL) commonly referred to as Malingers. They were casualties in the hospitals located away from the 4th Division in Gulu," the report reads.
This situation put UPDF in a vulnerable situation because its strength was overestimated yet they were thin on the ground. The investigation team found that it was a survival scheme by the paymasters and their bosses at the army headquarters.
"We suspect this to be a survival for someone at the headquarters, Mbuya with some of the 4th Division paymasters. The NLA investigative tram is following up on this," says the report.
According to sources with the army, when the Division paymaster one Capt. Osere was interrogated by the verification team he committed suicide. He reportedly closed himself in his house and shot himself. The report says the Division is experiencing strength instability for the home guards in Lira and Apac districts.
Excess money releases
The General Headquarter pay unit would release excess funds to the paymasters in the units and in share the balance. One battalion in the spotlight of this scandal was 41st Battalion where money from the headquarter would be released to the battalion without a voucher.
"A cheque was generated for Shs22,000,000 by the 3rd Division and forwarded to the 4th Division to cover salaries of Shs18,472,332. The difference of Shs3,525,668 was released without a voucher," the report says.
When the paymaster of the battalion was grilled, he claimed to have beneficiaries of the excess money in the memory. The ghosts were not only in northern Uganda. In 2001, the office of Chief of Staff instituted a team composed of Maj. Charles Tusiime(head), Capt. Sekiranda Mwanje, Lt. Ester Sembajwe, Lt. James Muhumuza and Mr Enan Tumwebaze to verify the strength of the Second and First divisions and Chieftaincy of Operations and Training.
According to the findings, Chieftaincy of Operations and Training(COT) then headed by Maj. Benon Biraro came into spotlight for having an inflated nominal roll in the month of March, April and May 2001.The report signed by Tumusiime says in the month of May, the posted strength of COT as reflected by the Directorate of Records(DOR) under Maj. Sabiiti Mutengesa was 544 officers and men. But COT was only to account for 281 leaving 241 unaccounted for.
The report says in a meeting by the verification team, COT and DOR in the office of Administrative Officer on 29 June, 2001 nobody refused to accept the responsibility. "Nobody refused to accept the responsibility and the knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing soldiers.
There were accusations and counter accusations between DOR and COT to be responsible for the mission," the report reads. The team also found 68 ghosts in the Second Division, it was only First Division whose strength was clear.
Then after Tumusiime's report, another team headed by Lt. Col Charles Okiror and deputized by Maj. Peter Kashure was dispatched by the Assistant Chief of Staff to investigate the 273 ghosts in Kabamba and Singo Military Training schools.
The team found that the ghosts belonged to a large group of trainees who were passed out from Singo and Kamba training schools on 12 January 2001 and 22 March 2001 respectively.
The report says the Director of Records should be held responsible for the manipulation of the strength which resulted into loss of funds.
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