Mr President, I would like to request you to accept my appeal in good faith. I am just a civilian, a true Ugandan who feels a lot of pain seeing the lives of our soldiers in the jungle with low take-home pay.
I know that, as a soldier, you see this as a sacrifice, which is true because when you went to the bush to save Uganda, there was no salary for the soldiers, and they survived on the support of some Ugandans.
Mr President, as a concerned Ugandan, I am humbly requesting that in this budget you consider raising the salaries of our gallant soldiers. I feel ashamed, Mr President, that a Member of Parliament earns Shs40 million, a minister earns Shs60 million, a KCCA director earns roughly Shs60 million, and the Executive Director of Uganda Airlines earns about Shs80 million, yet our soldiers, who spend restless nights in the bushes, do not even have smartphones. They do not spend nights in comfortable houses; they treat themselves in the bushes and, above all, they have sacrificed their sleep for us civilians. Yet we civilians earn higher salaries than them.
I am humbly requesting, Mr President, that this budget increase the allocation to the security sector significantly because, without security, I do not think we would have time to sit in Parliament calling “Point of Order, Mr Speaker.” Without stable security in the country, I do not think Uganda Airlines would be safe.
I am a bit bitter that any Member of Parliament who does not respect the security budget should be taken to Kyankwanzi again for orientation.
I want to thank our General, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, for working on the welfare of our troops, but it is not enough, especially when it comes to salaries.
Today, I stand to testify that our soldiers are among the most disciplined forces on the continent. Our soldiers do not see people fighting and ignore them. They are playing a big role in society. In fact, in some incidents, Ugandan civilians rush to attack armed soldiers during arguments, but our soldiers remain calm and respect human rights. With all this, they deserve better pay.
I will celebrate when I hear our President include my humble request in his State of the Nation Address.
Long live our President.
Long live General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
The writer is a senior veteran journalist.
