President Yoweri Museveni last year declared crime preventers as a reserve force of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF). However, today, Thursday afternoon during the annual general meeting for the Crime Preventers’ Forum at the Lugogo indoor stadium, the President revealed that some of them will be deployed back in police.
According to Museveni, since Police is lacking man power especially the Information Technology (IT) department, some qualified crime preventers can be utilized for that purpose.
“We bought CCTV cameras for the Police but require more IT people and if the Crime Preventers’ Forum can identify some of the people who can man the cameras, we can use them,” Museveni said.
However, he quickly alerted them that the deployment will not mean they have made it to the Police payroll.
“They can work for police at no pay but we can support them economically through their SACCOs,” he said before further identifying more work opportunities.
“If there are doctors among the crime preventers, they can help us detect fake drugs,” he stated.
A fortnight ago, Museveni ordered for the immediate sacking of Police officers who were monitoring cameras at the temporary command centre in Nateete on the night of the kidnap of Maria Nagirinya and her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa.