Kayihura defends Police militarisation

By Geoffrey Mutegeki Araali

The Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, has said the Police Force is being militarised in order to handle the militaristic characters in society.

He said though the move has been criticised by some people, he does not regret militarising the Police because it had to change tactics to match with the changing trends in society.

“What do you do to people who use military tactics. It is not only the Police that are militarised but the whole country. I have no option but to do what I have to do best and I have no regrets for that. The situation we are in is militarised and I will not apologise for that,” Kayihura said.

He was delivering a lecture to over 100 criminal investigations department officers at Kabalye Police Training School in Masindi on Saturday.

Kayihura said gangs of thugs with deadly weapons exist everywhere and this calls for a military approach to save the country from such groups.

“I can’t give my Police officers batons to face hooligans who are with rifles and other lethal weapons to cause commotion on the streets. The smallest weapon for a detective Police officer should be a pistol,” he said.

He added: “North African countries have not yet recovered from the hooliganism that overthrew governments. In Libya people are still suffering. We are not going to wait for that to happen here.”

Kayihura vowed that thugs that have been terrorising Kampala will be eliminated within a few months. He urged the Police to always act fast and prevent crimes before they happen.

“The Police should not wait for these problems to happen and then rush in with teargas. We should be able to detect and prevent them,” Kayihura, who also launched political science studies at the training school, said.

The Police boss passed out 51 criminal investigations officers who will work as narcotics experts while 54 more will work as homicide investigators.