Determinants of willingness to retire from Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces

Abstract

By utilizing primary data collected from a sample of 282 veteran soldiers; those who had just been retired in FY 2014/15, those who were still actively serving in the reserve and those who had completed their reserve service; this research used a logit model with direct plus interaction effects to examine the determinants of willingness to retire from the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF). The research objectives were to assess demographic, socio-economic and institutional factors that influence willingness to retire from the UPDF. Results indicated that the factors increase willingness to retire include; having an illness (by a probability of 0.37), being employable elsewhere (by a probability of 0.31), participating in external missions (by a probability of 0.17) and joining the forces rather than for unemployment reasons (by a probability of 0.12). While being a married militant (by a probability of 0.19), being educated (by a probabilities of 0.08, 0.09 and 0.26 respectively for primary, secondary and other levels in comparison to those with no education), not easily expecting pension payment after retirement (by a probability of 0.19) as well as not being sure about the payment (by a probability of 0.12), number of years served (by a probability of 0.01), employability elsewhere for militants (by a probability of 0.10) and being in Air Force (by a probability of 0.07) reduced willingness to retire. In order for the UPDF to reduce on willingness to retire; the study recommended for: encouragement of marriages for militants; more recruitment of the educated; improvement in medical care; reviewing of pension policy; increasing the number of years soldiers should serve; guarding against employability elsewhere; regulation of participation in external missions; recruitment of mainly the unemployed; and allowing most of the soldiers a chance to serve in the Air Force.