Planned police reorganisation excites Greater Luweero residents

A section of local leaders and residents in districts of Greater Luweero have welcomed a plan by the Police to formulate a doctrine that captures the stakeholder input to boost the policing guidelines and strategies.

While Police are supposed to maintain a close link with the local leaders and residents, its personnel have remained thin on the ground and often detached from the community, Mr Livingstone Kategaya, the former Kamira Sub County chairperson in Luweero District said.

“It is good news that the Uganda Police is under a reorganisation programme that we believe will capture the community needs in areas of policing. Some of our people fear interacting with police officers for different reasons. The policing guidelines should help build a people-friendly police force,” he said in an interview on Monday.

Mr Erasto Kibirango, the Luweero District Chairperson believes that some of the salient issues that the Police need to address are the limited number of personnel and the inadequate housing and transport infrastructure that partly compromises the Force's ability to deliver services.

“We have police posts that have less than five personnel that are charged with the duty of policing a population of about 10,000 residents in some areas. Some of our police officers sleep in structures that have been condemned for human habitation,” he said.

Mr Sam Kigula, the Nakasongola District chairperson, said restructuring and reorganisation of the Uganda Police Force under the Police Doctrine should not only consider increasing the number of personnel but the welfare of the officers.

“In Nakasongola District, the leadership is currently battling the cattle theft cartels that take advantage of the few police checkpoints. The police have no sound transport means to respond to different cases in time,” he said.

Sheikh Ramathan Mulindwa, the Luweero District Khadi in an interview with the Monitor on Friday, said: “The police should address the gaps in the personnel sector and ensure that the respective police posts and stations have effective transport means.”

Last week, the Assistant Inspector General of Police and Director of Human Resource Development, Mr Godfrey Golooba, while addressing stakeholders from the Savannah region on the progress of the Uganda Police Force Doctrine development tasked the different stakeholders to be part of the development process.

“The doctrine seeks to capture the evolving trends including the shift in technology over time, input from the community, religious and political leaders. We are also consulting with the police officers at different levels. We have had scattered information that must now be in one place,” he said.

“It will be a single document detailing the policies in general including development, recruitment, promotions, dressing and the general conduct of the personnel under the Uganda Police Force. To have all these issues addressed, the input of the different stakeholders is necessary, he said. 

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