Police officers lack passports, driving permits
Oct 04, 2018
Some officers however said having the documents was not important
The director for peace support operations in the Uganda Police Force, AIGP Grace Turyagumanawe, was on Thursday left shocked after Police officers revealed that they lack passports and driving permits.
"This is a shame to the Police force," he said, wondering how a majority of officers can lack such important documents.
Turyagumanawe urged Police officers to apply for passports so as to avoid complications in case travel is required.
"We cannot have six Police officers with passports and one only with a valid driving permit at such a station," he said.
He made the remarks during a sensitisation of over 100 Police officers on the role of the directorate of peace support operations, held at Moroto Central Police Station in Moroto district.
Turyagumanawe said the opportunity to travel to United Nations vacations was one of the benefits of a Police officer.
"But without a passport or valid driving permit, it could end your vacation," he said.
Turyagumanawe said Uganda has a lot of peace missions that the Police should get involved in.
He identified the Somalia peace initiative, East African standby force and the United Nations mission to South Sudan.
"All these are missions that we require our policemen to apply for consideration," Turyagumanawe said.
He added that with these missions in place, someone should have a passport and a driving permit to be considered.
Turyagumanawe encouraged Police officers in Karamoja to apply, saying that over the years, no Police officer from the region has come up to compete for these deployments.
The Moroto Regional Police Commander, Aruk Richard Maruk, said the intervention was timely for Police in Karamoja because for years, they thought were neglected.
"It is only sad that most Police officers did not know about the procedures," he said.
Maruk however said passports is not a big issue since the Police barracks is located near the immigration office charged with issuance of these documents.
Earlier in the day, Turyagumanawe inspected a sh400m eco-friendly school built for Police by Weltungerhilfe, a Germany non-government organisation working in Napak and Moroto districts.