Sain Kaluugi has laid down his Kalashnikov and now deals in clocks crockery and artificial flowers

The former army captain is one of scores of ex-soldiers who line Kampala s Burton Street taking orders from customers instead of from their officers.

They are trying to put their demobilisation payouts to good use — an ambition fully supported by the Uganda government which is worried by the potential social catastrophe that could follow its decision to implement the biggest cutback of public sec tor staff in the country s history

Nudged by international and bilateral donor countries President Yoweri Museveni has dismissed 170.000 civil servants and 44.000 soldiers, most of them unskilled.

Given that they each have an average of five dependents, their dismissal puts at risk about one million Ugandans out of a total population of about 18 million

Fears have been expressed that if the sacked soldiers and workers fail to find work they may turn to crime — or worse In mind is Major Herbert Itongwa. a former member of Museveni s National Resistance Army (NRA) who has gone back to the bush — where the NRA itself started as a rebel movement — to fight the government

These fears were illustrated in Burton Street where though the soldiers-turned traders were attempting to make an honest living, a nearby bank told city authorities that the veterans posed a security risk and should be

The new traders have re slated and continue ta go about their new business.

In the army we followed orders from above." says Kalungl Now you are on your own. You don t owe anybody a living."

Some veterans draw inspiration from Museveni s halfbrother. Major-General Salim Saleh, whose business empire includes a mill that once supplied maize to the Rwandan rebels who subsequently took power In Kigali

But not all the ex soldiers find it easy to get a foothold in

ch h in life More than 90 per <. nt did not complete primary school. Organisations and companies have sprung up to help them find employment

At least 50 veterans have been re trained to work in private security firms; scores of ex-soldiers have been contracted to pull up water hyacinth. a weed which is choking parts of Lake Victoria.

One of their most public activities was the removal and burial of an estimated 4.000

bodies from the lake, corpses which had drifted down from the massacres In Rwanda. The enlisted grave diggers were each paid 1.000 shillings a day

Major-General Emilio Mondo, Chairman of the Veterans Assistance Board, would like to build on that achievement: There is great need to mobilise these people so that they can respond to emergency situations in the future."

The Board's help for soldiers starting up In agricul ture. bicycle hire, carpentry and trade has been praised by the International Labour Or gantzation (ILO).

Measures are also being taken to reduce the impact of civil service dismissals, such as the intensification of the Ministry of Transport's programme for contracting small scale enterprises to rehabili tate and maintain 8.000 kilo metres of roads — a plan which could re-employ a total 8.000 workers, on short-term jobs, by 1998

However, the ILO has noted that varying agricultural sea sons can interfere with the supply of labour for such construction projects.

Unemployment is being further fuelled by the privati satlon programme, though the donors and the government hope that this is a short-term problem and that greater effi ciency will create many more Jobs In the long-term.

The ILO has supported requests from staff in services scheduled for selling off. such as Posts and Telecommunications. that they should be allowed to buy the businesses. The government should respond positively says the ILO. "because it partly breaks the Impasse now evident in the privatisation programme and will also ensure that economic growth is not compromised by too many plant closures

The Minister in charge of privatisation. Mathew Rukikaire. is drawing up a list of firms to be privatised, and UN agencies are helping the government compile a plan for Implementing the 821 million re employment programme — GemOuVeu.

’Crespo Sebunya is News txi/tor oj the Business World in Kampala.