President Museveni has harshly criticised the Army’s handling of cattle rustlers in the North-eastern sub-region of Karamoja.

Highly placed military sources told The Observer last week that the President, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, is not happy with the leadership of the Army’s 3 Division based in the sub-region for “overly estimating” the numerical strength of the Jie cattle raiders, hence alarming the public.

In a communication to the Army leadership recently, the President warned of the dangers of either underestimating or over-estimating the enemy. According to our sources, the President’s intelligence information indicates that there are about 70 Jie warriors, only 20 of whom are armed.

But this is at odds with the intelligence information of field commanders who put the number of Jie warriors in hundreds. The President cautioned the commanders in his communication, that over-estimating the “enemy” could make the soldiers fear to confront the warriors and also give politicians ammunition to discredit the on-going operation to rid the region of illegal arms.

“Do you know that politicians base on such reports to make baseless statements? Do you know that this can lead to Parliament and politicians to say that disarmament has failed?” the President is quoted as saying.

The President is said to have advised commanders not to behave like civilians. They should, as trained officers, use their military skills to cross-check intelligence reports. The President’s criticism of his commanders follows a recent raid in which warriors of the Jie sub-ethnic group of Karamoja stole hundreds of cattle in Kalapata, Kaabong District.

The President wondered how warriors could sneak into the area and steal such a big number of animals without the knowledge of the Army. In a separate communication, the Chief of Defence Forces, General Aronda Nyakairima, noted that there was laxity on the part of soldiers stationed in the sub-region, sometimes exemplified by spending a lot of time making cheap phone calls at night.

Nyakairima pointed out that the warriors have taken advantage of this laxity to continue raiding cattle. He ordered the soldiers to stop going on duty with mobile phones. The Chief of Defence Forces urged the soldiers to be more decisive in dealing with the warriors. “Nobody should survive when he enters an ambush,” Gen. Nyakairima is said to have directed, adding that some brigades “must pull up their socks.”

His recommendation was drawn from a security report showing that warriors had carried out successful raids on civilians without being intercepted by the Army.

It later emerged that the soldiers who were supposed to be on duty to thwart the raids were either sleeping or busy talking on phone to take advantage of cheap calls offered by MTN under its ‘MTN Zone’ tariff plan where subscribers can make calls for as low as one shilling . On top of banning phones, Nyakairima also barred soldiers from carrying small radios while on duty.
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