North Korea to solve Police housing crisis

By Steven Candia 

The Uganda Police is to partner with the North Korea in a bid to shore up her construction unit to alleviate the disturbing accommodation crisis in the force.

Speaking as he took the visiting Korean deputy minister for internal affairs Ri Song Chol through a guided tour of the police training school Kabalye, Masindi district mid-this week, police boss Gen. Kale Kayihura said the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) boasts such a vibrant construction industry from which the Uganda police could borrow to sort out its accommodation conundrum.

The Uganda police has for a long battled with a huge accommodation problem for it’s over 40,000 strong personnel, many of whom live in very pathetic conditions.

“They have such a strong construction unit and can help us in building our capacity to handle construction of our own accommodation ourselves,” Kayihura said.

In shoring up her construction unit, Kayihura said, the police would reap the attendant benefits given that the projects would be cheaper and executed faster. “I am very excited about the prospect of our cooperation,” he said.

Other areas, he said, would be in the area of both basic and specialized training particularly in martial arts and the marine unit. At Kabalye, the visiting minister was treated to gripping martial arts display by the instructors and pledged further support.

The DPRK has since 1988 supported Uganda police in martial arts training and later in the marine unit. Also present was the North Korean ambassador to Uganda Jong Thae Yang and two deputy director generals from the Korean internal affairs ministry.

Senior Uganda police officers among them the commandant of the training school Moses Kafeero.

The minister is on a five day visit and will today (Thursday) visit the police marine unit.