By Ronald Nahabwe
Kampala: The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola and his deputy Maj. Gen. Sabiiti Muzeeyi have defied Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s directive to nullify the just concluded recruitment of police officers, after Members of Parliament reported irregularities in the exercise.
Speaker Kadaga revealed that she was concerned that all MPs who had contributed on the matter had negative reports about the recruitment process.
“The voices here are voices of discontent, I have not heard anyone stand up and say it was okay in my area. This is about equity, and it is a fact that certain parts of this country are not well represented, we cannot endorse this impunity, this must stop,” said Kadaga.
Legislators say the recruitment process was characterized by favoritism, unfairness, and that some recruits were not residents of areas the claimed to come from.
Hon. Silas Aogon (Independent Kumi Municipality) criticized qualifications required of one to join the police force, saying that some requirements were irrelevant.
His counterpart from Ngora County, Hon. David Abala was equally displeased that although Ngora district was used as recruitment center that none of the residents benefited from the exercise.
Legislators want government to repeat the exercise and have local authorities verify applicants and that all regions be given the same number of vacancies.
But the latest information we have is that top police management alongside ministries of internal affairs and public services have gone ahead to receive more than 1200 recruits who are currently going to be trained at Police training academy in Masindi.
The source from police told us that police bosses defied Kadaga’s directive after receiving an order from above which was delivered through Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, to continue with recruitment because police and other security agencies need more man power for 2021 general elections.
Police gave reasons that they had used a lot of funds for the recruitment process and that repeating it would be too costly for the institution.
Recently, Premier Rugunda appealed to MPs to wait for the report of the Internal Affairs Ministry about the matter. He however agreed with MPs on irregularities in the recruitment process and urged government to apprehend anyone wrongly recruited.
“Earlier I said that within police, there are 127 cases that are being scrutinized because of wrong recruitment. Anybody who has been wrongly recruited in proposal must get out,” he said.
He said that such isolated cases should not stop training of new officers because they are highly needed in forthcoming years to curb election violence.
