Why The Role of the Military in National Development Should Never be Underestimated

In the past two decades, there has been a marked increase in the involvement of military forces in the development activities that have traditionally been outside the military sphere. And this trend has been particularly evident in third world countries, where the need for social development is most needed. Of course, many questions have been asked regarding the military participation in national development and need to maintain a balance in the composition of the military so that it can adequately perform assigned stabilization and reconstruction tasks.

Fortunately, in the current era of globalization and the emergence of liberal democracy, issues of human development are highest on the agenda of most countries especially the third world young democracies and all efforts are required towards the realization of social development, and our military forces can’t be left out in this great quest. The main question that lingers in the minds of leaders and strategic planners is, however, whether the military should be prioritized over economic development. If it is more prudent to allocate more resources to social projects rather than to the military? And what role does the military play in national development and what is the role of the military in the maintenance of national security? While the military is expected to wade off external threats, can we comfortably maintain a military that has an expensive budget against other social needs, what is more viable? is it the safety and the security of the citizenry against crime or is it an external military invasion? These questions have come to the fore in the thinking of policymakers and planners in determining the allocation of the meager resources amongst enormous needs, we are witnesses to constant debates on the floor of parliament in Uganda regarding the security budget and the involvement of the military personnel in legislation and in other sectors of the economy. That can only mean that many are not appreciative of the role the military plays in the social development of this nation and the need for collective support and appreciation.

In conceptualizing the role of the military in national development, we need to look at the military from the prism of the national security, that includes more than just external or internal military threats and requires the military to change its doctrine of analyzing threats and coming up with new strategies to engage the emanating new and complicated societal threats at different fronts that may not require hard power but soft power and civil-military relations and cooperation.

Consequently, modern armies no longer operate in the security-belligerency dimensions and there are a number of areas where the military can make an effective contribution to national development, and enable the population to reach self-sufficiency within the foreseeable future.

The military is the armed forces responsible for securing and defending a country. Relating to armed forces such as the army, marines, navy and air force (often as distinguished from civilians or police forces). A military is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare, also known collectively as armed forces. It is typically officially authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform.

And when we talk about development we mean the process that creates growth, progress, positive change or the addition of physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components, and the purpose of development is a rise in the level and quality of life of the population, and the creation or expansion of local regional income and employment opportunities, without damaging the resources of the environment.  Development is visible and useful, not necessarily immediately, and includes an aspect of quality change and the creation of conditions for a continuation of that change.

While national development is the total effect of all citizens, forces, and addition to the stock of physical, human resources, knowledge, and skill, ‘National Development is very broad and comprehensive, it includes all aspects of the development of a nation namely, political, social, economic, etc. It is a dynamic and revolutionary development of society. According to the UN Decade report, National development is a growth plus a change, in turn, is social, cultural as well as economic and qualitative as well as quantitative.

Whereas Social development is about improving the wellbeing of every individual in society so they can reach their full potential. Social development means investing in people. It requires the removal of barriers so that all citizens can journey toward their dreams with confidence and dignity. It is about refusing to accept that people who live in poverty will always be poor. It is about helping people so they can move forward on their path to self-sufficiency.

Social Development focuses on the need to “put people first” in development processes. Social Development promotes the social inclusion of the poor and vulnerable by empowering people, building cohesive and resilient societies, and making institutions accessible and accountable to citizens. With these terms, blocking our military from effectively participating in spheres that ensure achievement of the above, is not only abuse to their rights but a disservice to the very nation they swore to defend and protect against all enemies known and imaginary, foreign and internal, we stifle their potential and deny the country a very useful resource, that is very effective in task execution.

The starting point, therefore, is for the citizen appreciating that national security also involves the political, economic, societal and environmental, and encompasses the following: the security of human collectivities which is affected by factors in five major sectors; military, political, economic, societal and environmental; while political security concerns the organizational stability of states, systems of government and ideologies that give them legitimacy, the economic security concerns access to the resources, finance, and markets necessary to sustain acceptable levels of welfare and state power and societal security that concerns the sustainability, within acceptable conditions for the evolution, of traditional patterns of language, culture and religious and national identity and custom; as environmental security concerns the maintenance of the local and planetary biosphere as the essential support system concerns and which all other human enterprises depend. These sectors do not operate in isolation from each other. Each defines a focal point and a way of ordering priorities and they all sum up sustainable national security.

Since all these sectors coexist symbiotically, it is extremely suicidal to attempt to exclude military engagement in the planning, implementation, and execution of the same.

We actually need to induce the military to participate in social programs arising from the fact that, often, the problems which exist among their own soldiers may originate from the problems of society. Thus, it may be wise therefore for them to assist in dealing with social problems before they become a serious impediment to combat effectiveness.

The failure by the society to understand that the military has always been crucial in civil socioeconomic wellbeing is a weakness in the civil-military relations. This perspective of the civil-military relations is an aspect of national security policy, it addresses the concern of who controls the military and for whose purpose it is established. It is therefore the work of the military leadership through their CIMIC activities to promote this cardinal role and seek civil support in fulfilling this mandate.

In terms of governance, the main goal for the military is to create an environment conducive for stable governance, the need to establish a secure environment, ensure the survival of the population and maintain a minimum level of economic activity in the country and this will definitely require military units participating in public service tasks during the emergency phase of the operation until such time that NGOs, community-based organizations and communities can stand on their own and in so doing the military is contributing to the social development of the nation.

In the coming years, our country continues to deepen industrialization, modernization, and international integration; the task of national construction and Defence faces both great opportunities and challenges. In order to join hands with the people to fulfill successfully the two strategic tasks in the new era, the military is required to not only focus on improving its integrated quality and combat power but continue to carry out well the task of production and economic development, making more contributions to socio-economic development and strengthening national capabilities and power.

The UPDF for example through its commercial arm, the National Enterprises Corporation (NEC) has been involved in a number of productive activities such as the production of mineral water ( Uzima), Simi mobile phones (Namanve), dairy farming (Katonga model farm), agricultural products, fertilizers, provision of irrigation services, cement, medicines, arms factory in Nakasongola is contributing immensely to the economic development of Uganda, also through the financial arm, the WAZALENDO is providing jobs and ensuring financial independence of the forces. The engineering brigade is partnering with Kira Motors in the manufacturing of Kayola and Kira motor-vehicles, it’s also into the construction of classrooms, hospitals, railways repair and other engineering works, this saves the country a lot of money and also provides citizens with employment.

Other areas that the military can contribute is the education and training, it plays the part of raising the levels of education among the country’s population, as this should lead to further development in the economic, social, and political fields, thus the military plays an educative role both towards those in its ranks and among the civilians. It is also true that in a number of developing nations the military has significantly raised the standard of education among a considerable section of the population without a clearly formulated educative program. This is because the conscript must necessarily receive some degree of training in verbal and technical skills in order to fill military posts competently. Thus, after they are released from the army after their period of national service, not only have they had their general educational level raised, many of them have also become qualified to perform highly skilled and semi-skilled civilian jobs.

In El Salvador for instance, veterans who have retired from active services are paid a small salary to act as teachers in their home villages and also to train other teachers. In Israel, almost the entire educative function of the Defence force is carried out by personnel from the “Chen’ women`s corps. Israeli females who have matriculated are called up for two years of national service, and, while many of them perform duties in support units, their major contribution is in the area of teaching posts they fill through Israel society whenever there is a shortage of teachers.

Thus, the educative role of the military towards the civilian population may take the form of training and applying to teach in schools under the control of either the military or civilian authorities, another area that military is participating is through attaching of military personnel to communities to act as advisors and coordinators for educational and developmental work. The military can also participate in the educational field by providing assistance in the construction of school building, the UPDF engineering brigade has effectively and efficiently constructed and completed classroom blocks and contributed to the education sector in the country, through the provision of teachers and establishment of school facilities that are used by both military families and civilians.

Another important area where our military has contributed is in health and hygiene sector,  military forces worldwide have been used to deal with crisis situations such as floods, landslides, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, fires and epidemics which affect a great section of the civilian population, they provide manned transport, communication equipment, excavation equipment, and manpower at short notice because their training equips them to deal with similar situations in the military context.

One of the areas where our military personnel has proved their skills and usefulness is in the area of health and medicine, they have won accolades in that regard where ever they have been deployed within or on foreign missions, during the doctor crisis in Uganda our military medics came in handy to deal with the situation, as we speak now a total of more than 200 military health workers have been deployed alongside the ministry of health in dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic in the different parts of the country. A number of military health facilities have their doors open to the civilian population who are seeking Medicare.

In the field of sports, our military is representing well, and several of our officers and men are involved in sporting activities at regional, continental and international level and have brought home a number of trophies and raised our flag high at the international scene.

Therefore, the military cannot be wished away when it comes to their contribution in social transformation and national development and can only be appreciated, supported and encouraged by all of us to continue not only protecting our borders but engaging in all other five core spheres of the national security as we have already highlighted. Military makes up a disciplined and organized workforce that we should not lose by confining them to only defending us against the aggressor and into their barracks, especially when there are no more combat wars to fight; but be encouraged to effectively integrate into other sectors of the economy for the social development of our nation.

The writer is an educationist and political analyst