A total of 84 veteran Soldiers hailing from Kisoro district have presented their concerns to the state Minister for defense in charge of veteran affairs Hon. Oleru Huda Abason.
On top of their list presented to the Minister included failure by Government to pay their gratuity while some pension claims still hanging in the air. Others accused Government for not including them in Government programs.
The revelations were made yesterday during a special meeting with the State Minister held at the Kisoro district council hall.
The Kisoro district Veterans Chairperson, Retired Captain Arisen Wegyi called upon the government to boast the standards of living of veteran soldiers through strengthening the existing projects including Emyooga. He also asked the government to consider paying both gratuity and pension fully and on time.
Other veterans asked the minister to create a way for veterans to be considered as a special interest group so that government can always directly donate to them through Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) projects.
The director of veteran affairs Emmanuel Musinguzi called upon veteran soldiers to continue maintaining discipline adding that through formation of associations, Government will be inclined to include them in the numerous enterprises where they can improve their standard of living.
State Minister of defense in charge of veteran affairs, Hon. Huda Abason Oleru Commended Kisoro veterans for maintaining unity and not undermining Government efforts.
Hon. Huda explained that though the veterans had retired they were not tired and forgotten. She pledged to address their issues as soon as possible.
Definition of the Veteran
A military veteran is any Ugandan who rendered military services to any of the successive Ugandan government and liberation armies which were involved on all sides of Uganda’s liberation wars: has completed his or her military service and no longer performs active military duties or is deceased and has not been dishonorably discharged from military services of Uganda.
These statutory Armies referred to include : Kings African Rifle( KAR),Uganda Rifles ( UR),Uganda Army(UA),Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA),National Residence Army (NRA),Uganda Peoples Defence Forces ( UPDF).
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