Uganda: Police Want Funding to Implement Museveni's Standby Directive

The Deputy Inspector General of Police Maj. Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Katsigazi is anxious to implement President Museveni's new strategy for securing the country.

Katsigazi now stresses the need for funding to immediately roll out the new strategy that will require 18 equipped policemen and toll-free lines at every sub-county.

But the opposition highly doubts if the strategies can be achieved given the underfunding and motivation of the police force.

President Museveni directed the police on the new strategy that will require 18 well-equipped standby officers with motorcycles, and toll-free lines at every sub across the country ready to respond to emergencies.

And now with the greater Busoga region of Jinja equally registering some cases of insecurity, the deputy police chief Maj. Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Kasigazi says he can't wait to implement the presidential directive.

The intervention comes after suspected ADF rebels successfully attacked and killed nearly 40 pupils of Lhubiriha Secondary School in the Kasese district, an attack that critics say could have been averted, had security responded on time.

However, the opposition believes the new strategy is unachievable given the limited funding and the available manpower in the force.

The National Unity Platform (NUP) spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi and UPC's Joseph Ochieno believe given the nature of Uganda's police force, unmotivated and poorly paid, they may not deliver the assignment.

Besides coming up with a new security strategy, the opposition politicians believe police ought to first make a public report on the attack on Kasese.

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