Africa-Press – Uganda. Opposition members of parliament want the government to consider withdrawing Uganda’s armed forces deployed on foreign missions to boost domestic security.
The opposition MPs raised their concern while addressing the media in Kampala on June 20 drawing from recent incidences of insulated and shade off attacks like the Lhubiriha Secondary School in which over 40 people were killed.
In the joint address, the legislators led by the Shadow Minister of Internal Affairs Mr Abdallah Kiwanuka reasoned that the government’s decision to deploy forces on peacekeeping missions has stretched the country’s security functions, something that rogues exploit to wreak havoc on the citizenry.
“We demand that the UPDF review its open-ended deployment in Somalia with a view of withdrawing (troops) to concentrate on internal insecurity,” said Kiwanuka.
He added that;
“We call upon every citizen to raise their voices in demanding for our forces to come back here [Uganda]. It is also high time that government gets to realise that once these forces go to these missions they have a time-limit. They should not be there forever,” Kiwanuka told journalists.
The Opposition MPs also demand that government institutes a detailed audit and review into the remunerations and scale up on the supportive equipment supplied to all security personnel to improve their performance.
“We must come up with an elaborate program of offering protection to the citizens that are guarding our boarders and where possible, please pay well our soldiers,” the Kyandondo East MP Mr Muwada Nkunyingi said adding that “we believe we have the capacity and capabilities. We have to ensure there is training and equipment in terms of payment and welfare.”
The two legislators joined by Mr Timothy Batuwa (Jinja West), Mr Geofrey Solo Kayemba (Bukomansimbi South), and Gilbert Olanya (Kilak South) have vowed to mount pressure on the Ministry of Internal Affairs once plenary resumes on June 27.
The lawmakers are particularly dismayed that whereas Uganda has forces deployed in neighboring countries such as Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo on peacekeeping missions, suspected extremist rebel attacks continue in pockets of the country, consequently kill innocent Ugandans.
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