KAMPALA – The opposition has criticised the decision by President Yoweri Museveni, to name four new Assistant Inspector Generals of Police, from Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) saying the move is aimed at militarising the army and warned Ugandans of tough times as consequence of this decision.
The President who is also the Commander in Chief named; Brig. Jack Bakasumba as Chief of Joint Staff for the Police, Chris Damulira who has been the deputy CMI director for counterterrorism is now director of crime intelligence in the Uganda Police as well as Brig Godfrey Goloba and Colonel Jese Kamunanwire.
The appointment was confirmed by Brig Richard Karemire, spokesperson Uganda People’s Defence Forces who announced the appointment on Twitter writing; “Congratulations to the UPDF General and Senior officers seconded and appointed to various positions in the Uganda Police Force. UPDF remains available to support other agencies of govt. in their quest to build capacity for the good of our country.”
The four join Sabiiti Nzeeyi who is the Deputy Inspector General of Police whose appointment followed the firing of fellow military man, Kale Kayihura as IGP only to be replaced by Okoth Ochola.
However, the decision hasn’t gone without any castigation from the Opposition Chief Whip, Ssemujju Nganda who said that the militarising of police isn’t beneficial to anyone including President Museveni who doing it because the military training is different from that of Police.
He explained; “The military is supposed to safeguard Uganda’s borders, whoever violates that is an enemy and the military deals with an enemy most of the time. Police is supposed to keep law and order all the time, unfortunately, the things that Museveni would want police to do aren’t easy for Police to do that is why they would want the military to do and do those things.”
Ssemujju added that the move will disfranchise the Police officers and that will not solve the problem that has seen crime increase in the country because of Police’s concentration on regime protection.
“In a way, Museveni has been a victim of undermining the police because the moment you bring in the military, they will stand on the side and watch. As a result, you have seen crimes go up. The moment you concentrate on regime protection, you will have less time combating crime eventually that is what happens. I think both military and Police must be ashamed that you can have people in broad day staging robberies. So there is a total breakdown. You need to brace yourself for more difficulty as a country,” argued Ssemujju.
