Inlet without outlet: The rehabilitation process of soldiers with disabilities in Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF)

Abstract

Between October 1962 and January 1986, Uganda had eight regimes, coming and going through the use of the gun (Odoi – Tanga: 2009; Seguya, 2000; http://www.insightonconflict.org/conflicts/uganda/). Though one president has ruled since then, intensive wars have been on-going in Uganda and in the neighbouring countries. The soldiers being the major players end up being the direct casualties. By July 2011, 1,915 soldiers who sustained disabilities and could no longer perform some of their duties which include routine soldiering (Kibirango, 2011) lived in Mubende for rehabilitation. This dissertation presents an analysis of the rehabilitation process of the SWDs in the CMRC - UPDF, some of whom have been there since 1987. The study was conducted between June and October 2011; examining both the internal and external factors that influence the rehabilitation process and how the interventions benefit the SWDs. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed in examining the rehabilitation process focusing on the legal frameworks that constitute the centre, the human resource, infrastructure, and programmes in place, as well as the key people concerned with welfare and rehabilitation in Mubende District Local Government (MDLG). The key factor affecting the rehabilitation of SWDs is the fact that the rehabilitation centre (Mubende CMRC) is both an open and closed system; that has an ‘inlet’ that continues to receive SWDs with no ‘outlet’ that releases them apart from death, there was no other clear formal way of completing the rehabilitation process.