By Timothy Nsubuga

29^th Nov 2010

Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura

Gen. Kale Kayihura’s police force recruited nearly 30,000 “election police” officers and hastily trained then in a military establishment in preparation for the 2011 elections, Uganda Correspondent can exclusively reveal.

Our police source, the same Senior Superintendant of Police [SSP] who told Uganda Correspondent on October 11^th that they were ready for any form of election violence [See: We are ready for 2011-police], said the training of the 30,000 “election police” officers took place at an army establishment in south western Uganda.

He said the order from above was that the training of the 30,000 recruits should lay particular emphasis on keeping public order ‘military style’ to ensure that any violence or indeed trouble of any kind that emerges during the 2011 elections is swiftly and ruthlessly dealt with.

“…The instructors at the military training base were given very clear orders on what to do with the 30,000 election police recruits.  The first phase of their training was therefore limited to physical training and military crowd management skills”, the police Superintendant said.

Crucially however, the Senior Superintendant also revealed that because of the pressure to pass out the 30,000 “election police” officers in time for the commencement of election campaigns, a conscious decision was taken not to give the 30,000 recruits any law and human rights training whatsoever.

“…The decision to recruit and train these officers was taken late and it was a response to some specific intelligence that we had received.  That is why it was thought that the academic training on law enforcement and observance of human rights would consume too much.  But they will be sent to Masindi to get that training after the elections”, the Senior Superintendant reaffirmed.

Ordinarily, police recruits are supposed to be given thorough training on how to observe, protect, and enforce the law as well as human rights during the course their work.  Clearly, that has not happened with the newly recruited “election police” officers and that may have grave implications for the observance of human rights during these elections.

The police Superintendant, although not entirely sure, also told Uganda Correspondent that he suspects that it is the 30,000 “election police” officers who have now been dressed up in military uniforms and deployed across the country to police the elections.

Asked if he thought dressing policemen in military uniform heralds the beginning of the end for Uganda Police Force, the Superintendant was philosophically evasive in his response.  “…Your guess is as good as mine.  All I can say even with the anonymity that you are giving me is that I worry for the future of the police force”, he said.

Efforts to get a comment from the acting police spokesman were futile as his phone rang with no answer by the time Uganda Correspondent went to press.  END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.