Mityana: One youth on December 31 passed on during the ongoing Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) recruitment exercise in Mityana District.

The 27-year-old Gerald Mulahi collapsed and died instantly after a 5 kilometer run, according to Maj. Yusuf Bilal Katamba, the UPDF spokesperson for First Infantry Division and also spokesperson of recruitment team in central region. 

“He was immediately attended to by our medical team but not much could be done to save his life,” he said on Tuesday evening.

The deceased’s body was taken to Mityana general hospital for an autopsy.

According to Maj.Katamba, the deceased was recommended to join the army by LC II chairperson in Kalami, Kassanda District though his national identity card reads Kasese District.

The exercise which was at Mityana Ggombolola grounds on Tuesday, attracted over 600 candidates from the districts of Mityana, Mubende and Kassanda, but only 78 passed the test. Maj Katamba said majority of the applicants were rejected due to poor health and forged academic papers.

“We had a challenge that many people attended were coming from far districts, others who were rejected in the previous recruitment in other districts because they had deformities, scars, tattoos, eye and dental defects also followed us, still we chased them away,” he said.

Maj. Katamba explained that, every district is given a quota depending on its population and those from other areas in Central region could not be recruited in Mityana.

“Many soldiers are desperate to have their relatives join the army, but we cannot bypass the set procedure to do what they want .Every step has to be followed to the latter and they should bearer with,” he said

At the end exercise, which will cover all districts in the country, the army would have hit its target of recruiting 4,000 soldiers.