A little over 65,000 Ugandans who had applied for jobs in the national army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), have been left in tears after they were rejected in the ongoing UPDF Recruitment Exercise 2025.
The UPDF plans to recruit 11,500 soldiers this year.
But up to 78,000 Ugandans had sent in their applications for the jobs. The jobs were for both regular officers and professionals.
The UPDF released the shortlist of candidates who are expected to proceed to the next level, which is training.
The nationwide recruitment process ran from July 7 to July 11, 2025 through an online application on the UPDF site.
UPDF and defence spokesperson Maj Gen Felix Kulayigye has confirmed that 13,000 Ugandans have been shortlisted for training.
This means that over 65,000 were unsuccessful.
Even some of the 13,000 will be disqualified when the army conducts physical screening. Some of those who may not make it include those with cross eyes, ringworms or bowlegs.
The physical screening will happen at designated district recruitment centers from August 05 to August 15.
“Those shortlisted should report with three passport photographs and an application letter signed by LC 1, DISO, and GISO. Report with their original academic documents. Those who did not indicate their district of residence in their applications will report to the districts mentioned on their national identification cards,” noted Maj Gen Kulayigye.
“Those who report with forged documents will face prosecution. Only shortlisted candidates should appear at the recruitment centres. Recruitment in the UPDF is free of charge, and shortlisted candidates should watch out for conmen and fraudsters.”
You can see the names of Ugandans shortlisted for UPDF jobs (regular and professional) Here.
As The pearl Times has previously reported, the UPDF, Police, and Prisons are recruiting over 20000 officers ahead of 2026 elections. See names of Ugandans who were shortlisted for training for police jobs Here.
Uganda Prisons has also released the list of successful candidates. See all names Here.
Meanwhile, Museveni government has increased salaries of police and prisons officers, CAOs and town clerks, according to the new salary structure for the 2025-2026 financial year. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
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