Militarisation of Uganda’s Public Service Sector

Militarisation has been defined as a step-by-step process by which a person or a thing gradually comes to be controlled by the military or comes to depend for its well-being on militaristic ideas. The more militarisation transforms an individual or a society, the more that individual or society comes to imagine military needs and militaristic presumptions to be not only valuable but also normal. Militarism blurs the boundaries between what can be defined as military and what can be viewed as part of civilian life. Militarism demands that an entire society become permeated with and built according to military values and priorities. The concept of militarisation draws attention to the simultaneously material and discursive nature of military dominance. Having a standing effective military with the ability to offer human resource in public service is both a great milestone but also a call for concern. The latter is premised on the way in which these military institutions are hijacked by the ruling political class to consolidate their often-authoritarian rule, prevalent.