Multimillion police garments factory opens
Sep 30, 2014
President Yoweri Museveni commission a multimillion factory at Lugogo on Tuesday, which will produce police uniforms to cut costs of importing uniforms for the forces.
By Raymond Baguma
KAMPALA - President Yoweri Museveni commissioned a multimillion factory at Lugogo on Tuesday, which will produce police uniforms to cut costs of importing uniforms for the forces.
According to the inspector general of police Gen. Kale Kayihura, the factory is a public-private partnership with a Chinese company which offered the equipment, while the Police provided the space.
Gen. Kayihura said that the factory, which is a partnership with the Chinese-owned company called M/S Poly-technologic Inc, will reduce on the costs incurred in importation of police uniforms.
Last week, Godfrey Bangirana, the police director of logistics and engineering told the media that about 70 police officers are in China to gain skills in garment manufacturing.
According to Bangirana, the factory will employ about 200 people in including police officers, their spouses and civilians for mass production of uniforms.
Also, the police will be able to control the quality and quantity, effectively secure the uniforms, and have them delivered in time; while the savings made will support construction of houses for police officers, according to Bangirana.
Addressing journalists on Monday, Gen. Kayihura said, “The uniforms should now be made in Uganda. In the long term, we expect the cotton to be grown here instead of importing it in a more expensive form.”
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The factory will produce police uniforms to cut costs of importing uniforms for the forces. PHOTO/Maria Wamala
The factory will produce police uniforms to cut costs of importing uniforms for the forces. PHOTO/Maria Wamala
According to Kayihura, the launch of the factory is part of activities to mark 100 years of the existence of Uganda Police.
The factory will also manufacture school uniforms, private security company uniforms, and organization uniforms to generate income for police in the long run.
The factory will also manufacture school uniforms, private security company uniforms, and organization uniforms to generate income for police in the long run.
The police spokesperson Fred Enanga said Uganda Police was implementing a directive to produce its own uniforms in order to reduce on costs. He however could not immediately provide the cost of producing police uniforms or the cost of importing uniforms.
“As a result of that, we established a police garments factory and time will come when we will process our cotton and we will get materials to produce our own uniforms to reduce on the costs of spending on uniforms,” said Enanga.
Uganda Police presently has five types of uniforms, supplied by the Jinja-based textile manufacturer Nytil. The various colours include Olive green uniform which is the general police uniform, white uniforms for traffic police; and the blue camouflage for the Field Force Unit.
Others include the navy blue uniform for the police marine unit and the black uniform for the Counter Terrorism Unit.