Uganda says the clumsy paratroopers in the viral video don’t belong to UPDF

The Ugandan government has dismissed social media claims that a group of paratroopers whose failed landing elicited criticism belong to Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF).

Taking to social media on Thursday, UPDF spokesperson Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso denied association with the four paratroopers whose ‘clumsy’ landing in a stadium caused ridicule to the forces.

He termed the said video as ‘fake’ noting that the parachutes in the video differ from the ones used by UPDF forces at Kololo ceremonial grounds during Independence Day celebrations on Sunday.

“Our attention has been drawn to a video doing rounds on social media purportedly to be a video of UPDF paratroopers that performed a tremendous job on Independence Day,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Therefore, ignore this video because it is fake. A keen eye will see that the Parachutes are not the ones that were used at Kololo ceremonial grounds.”

Byekwaso went on to defend the competence of the UPDF officers as he referred to their past performance at Kololo saying that the huge crowd seen in the video was not present in Kololo.

“Secondly, such a crowd did not attend the Independence Celebration in Kololo due to COVID-19 restrictions & all our paratroopers had successful jumps,” he remarked.

In the video doing rounds on social media platforms, attempts by four paratroopers to land inside a stadium died in the vine as the quartet slammed into the crowds.