Katebe

A Ugandan term for undeployed army officers.

The Ugandan Independent recently estimated that 100 or so senior officers in the Uganda People’s Defense Force (U.P.D.F) are currently “on katebe” – that is, not deployed:

Some of those on katebe include officers who fought in the Luwero bush war that brought President Yoweri Museveni to power in 1986. As the president’s command and control structure has shifted to young officers like Col. Moses Rwakitarate, the old guards have increasingly found themselves shunted aside, many with no option to retire from the army for fear they could join the opposition ranks.

The Independent explained that the term katebe emerged during the Luwero Bush War (1981–86), when the U.P.D.F., then known as the National Resistance Army (N.R.A.), was a rebel force:

According to “historical” bush war officers, there were times when the rebels would not be engaged in any combat operations and would be in their camps. The N.R.A. had stools they used to sit on. So whenever one would be in the camp awaiting deployment and was asked by a colleague what he was doing, he would reply: ndi ku katebe kange (I am seated on my stool). So the word katebe came to be known as a common reference to being “not deployed.”

Although some of the officers on The Independent’s katebe list have not been deployed since the 1980s, the significance of being on katebe appears to be a matter of dispute. According to The Independent:

Some analysts say the President fears that retirement of disgruntled or errant educated officers would hand them an opportunity to join politics, particularly the opposition. Keeping them on katebe, therefore, is a compromise that is meant to control their political ambitions. Uganda’s constitution does not allow serving soldiers to engage in active politics, although they often do in support of the rulingNational Resistance Movement party.

Some reportedly consider katebe to be a disciplinary punishment, akin to being demoted. And others suggest it is linked to recent efforts to “professionalize” Uganda’s army, whereby younger, better-educated officers replace their seniors who are in turn kept on katebe as a gesture of goodwill. As The Independent noted:

They have lived most of their lives in the army and the only job they know is military service. If they were retired, the situation would be too difficult for them in civilian life. So instead they are kept on katebe, in order to at least continue getting a salary for survival.