NUP calls for better welfare of security forces

Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party has tasked the government to increase the welfare of security personnel to motivate them to fight terrorism and other crimes.

The party said many members of security agencies have low morale because they are poorly paid and live in dilapidated houses.

“We have been advocating for the good welfare of the people in uniform even in our manifesto,” Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, the NUP secretary-general, told journalists at the party’s headquarters in Kamwokya, Kampala yesterday.  

“We all know that these people are poorly paid and yet tasked with the issues of handling top security matters of the country, sometimes putting their lives on the line, that needs to change,” he added.

In his manifesto, then NUP presidential candidate, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, promised to increase the emoluments of the security personnel with an entry-level job fetching Shs1m. 

He said this would motivate them and reduce corruption.
Statistics from the police indicate that the lowest ranking officer, a police constable, earns Shs470,000 per month followed by a corporal (Shs530,000), and sergeant (Shs570,000). 

The assistant inspector of police and inspector of police earn Shs456,000 and Shs520,000 per month, respectively.

Trust issue
The NUP spokesperson, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, called for increased trust between the government and the public in light of the recent terror attacks. 

“Eradicate unemployment so as to fight poverty among the population as well as stop selective arrests which seem to target one religion,” he said.

Mr Ssenyonyi added that a “shoot and kill” policy of suspects suggests that the government “could be hiding something sinister.”

However, the police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, told journalists in Kampala yesterday that: “Nobody has been arrested because of their political or religious beliefs. Those arrested are people participating in criminality.”