#MANIFESTOweeek2020: Continued Modernization of security forces turning Uganda Police into model force

By Richard Kintu

While asking Ugandans for a fresh political mandate for the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party in 2015, candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni pledged to push Uganda to middle income status in the same term (2016-2020). 

This would be achieved through emphasis on improving the welfare of all Ugandan citizens through relentless service delivery by government ministries, departments and agencies across all the sectors of Uganda’s economy. However, experience shows that no country in the world can attain development without being stable. This security is the duty of the security forces that include among others, the police. Upon this realization, the NRM government embarked on the journey to improve the efficiency of the police. This has been achieved through the professionalization and modernization of the security and defence forces which has made them more efficient pro-people institutions. The fruits of this journey have been greatly witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic fight where the security forces including the Uganda police force, UPDF nad Uganda prisons service have formed the bedrock of the Covid relief foot soldiers. The security forces improvement journey has been going on andalong the way several key milestones have been achieved. But as we celebrate the NRM Manifesto week this year, here are some of the key highlights of the manifesto targets that have been achieved to date by the Uganda police force:  

ESTABLISHING A POLICE ACADEMY

PLAN: In the UPF Strategic Policing Plan 2015/16 – 2019/20, the UPF planned to establish a Police Academy through upgrading the Police Senior Command and Staff College at Bwebajja. The process would entail establishment of additional training, accommodation and recreation facilities as well as accreditation of curricula and training materials.

Police Training School Kabalye based in Masindi district was meant to be a regional training academy to cater for;

• 1700 new recruits and 400 officers on advanced training per year

• Regional police Training academy for other member states in the region

• Full facilities supporting training in terms of lecture rooms, parade and drilling ground, shooting range, accommodation and administration

STATUS NOW: But this did not kick off because the infrastructure was not sufficient for an academy.

HOWEVER: UPF still operates PTS Kabalye as an ordinary training school for Initial and In-Service Training programmes

In addition UPF has other training schools and these include;

I) Police Senior Command and Staff College, Bwebajja – Leadership Enhancement

2)  Police Training School, Ikafe, Yumbe – Public Order management

3)  Police Training School, Olilim, Katakwi – Counter Terrorism

4). Police Facility – Kikandwa – hosts UPF Research Development & Innovation Centre, proposed Peace Support Training Centre,

NATIONAL SAFE CITY CCTV PROJECT

TARGET: Following increased urbanization and improvement in the standards of living of many Ugandans, the country realized an upsurge in the incidences of urban and organized crime. It is for this matter that government pledged to secure the lives of Ugandans and their property by embracing modern information technology to help monitor crimes at source to ease follow up and eliminating crime by apprehending and putting criminals out of actions. One of the major proposals was the procurement and installation of CCTV cameras to monitor criminals especially in urban centers.

STATUS NOW: As promised, the camera project has been rolled out and it has helped greatly in apprehending criminals such as those that perpetrated the Naggirinya murder among others. Under this project, the following monitoring centers have been established to monitor cameras in the Kampala Metropolitan Area:

1)  One KMP monitoring center at Nateete police complex

2) 18 Divisional monitoring centers in KMP

3) 83 station monitoring centers in KMP

4)  The National CCTV Command Center at Naguru Police Headquarters

5)  A Research, Development and Innovations Centre at Kikandwa.

HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Accommodation has perennially been a critical challenge in the Uganda police force. Government having appreciated the deplorable living conditions of police officers, pledged to embark on housing projects aimed at solving this challenge.

ACHIEVEMENTS: As of now, the Uganda Police Force has completed the construction of one block of 60 housing units at Naguru. Six other blocks (360) are at roofing levels. These new accommodation apartments are meant to accommodate 1020 personnel of the rank Police PC to IP deployed in Kampala.

CONSTRUCTION AND REHABILITATION OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SPORTS INFRASTRUCTURE

Health

TARGET: Government is very much aware that a healthy police officer is an efficient one. It is for this matter that government strives to provide adequate health care to these officers and their dependents/family members. This is on top of providing enabling infrastructure for them to educate their families through the various educational institutions dedicated solely to police dependents.

Achievements: To achieve this goal, government has accomplished the following projects:

(a). Construction of Mbale Police Health Centre III maternity wing constructed with support from USAID

b). Renovation of Tororo Police Health Centre III supported by Tororo Municipality

c). Construction of a Cancer Hospital in Kololo was halted and UPF management to turn it into a police hospital. Because this project is expensive, the management is looking for an investor to partner with.

EDUCATION

• Police Children School Kibuli renovated by Citi Bank.

• Kireka Army Primary School by MTN Uganda

Construction.

Boarding facilities built by parents;

• Vanguard Primary School Gulu

• Lira Police Barracks School

• Nsambya Police Barracks Nursery& Primary School

Toilet blocks; 6 stances at each school were built with support from National medical Stores

• Masaka Police Barracks Primary School

• Jinja Police Barracks Primary School

• Kireka Army Primary School