Museveni: I may arm crime preventers to restore security

Support. Leaders in Ruhaama cheer on President Museveni as he sits on a stool presented to him by Ruhaama Leaders Development Platform in Ntungamo District on Monday. Right is First Lady Janet Museveni. PHOTO BY ELLY KATAHINGA

Ntungamo. President Museveni has said if the situation warrants, he will arm crime preventers to maintain peace and security in the country.
“We shall defend our peace, no one will disrupt it. If it is necessary, the crime preventers- look at the army here (referring to crime preventers who were part of the gathering). I can give them arms and then villages come back to normalcy,” the President said on Monday.
This was during victory celebrations for Ruhaama County MP Moses Kahima at Nyakyera Sub-county in Ntungamo District. Mr Kahima defeated three candidates in the January 12 parliamentary by-election.
Mr Museveni also said he was prepared to pay the high cost of feeding and remunerating the crime preventers to maintain security.
In March, the President ordered the transfer of millions of crime preventers from police to Uganda People’s Defence Forces as a reserve force. They have been providing to police information on crime in villages and cells.
Mr Museveni thanked Ruhaama voters for supporting the ruling NRM party in the by-election and urged them to help him kick out Opposition in the district.
“I still have a problem in Ntungamo Municipality. There is a young man called Karuhanga. I must make sure I uproot him from there. There is also the young man of Kajara, I also do not understand him. We will try to understand him and see how we can work with him because that is my ancestral area. I will not allow anyone to play from my ancestral area,” the President said.
Mr Gerald Karuhanga, the former Western Youth MP, was elected MP Ntungamo Municipality in 2016 as an Independent. He defeated Mr Yona Musinguzi of NRM.
Mr Michael Timuzigu (NRM) represents Kajara. He was opposed to the lifting of the presidential age limit from the Constitution.