Police Force to recruit 16,000
Apr 29, 2010
THE Police Force is to recruit 16,500 Special Police Constables (SPCs) ahead of next year’s general elections, the internal affairs ministry said yesterday.
By Madinah Tebajjukira
THE Police Force is to recruit 16,500 Special Police Constables (SPCs) ahead of next year’s general elections, the internal affairs ministry said yesterday.
Defending the ministry’s budget before the defence and internal affairs committee of Parliament, minister Kirunda Kivejinja said the force has only 38,168 officers compared to the 22,000 gazetted polling stations.
“There is a shortfall of 16,500 personnel to effectively cover the exercise. This needs to be filled by recruiting and training special Police constables,†he said in a statement.
The Police chiefs had been slated to appear before the committee, but they failed to do so for unclear reasons. Instead, Kivejinja, his deputy Matia Kasaijja and Prison officials turned up.
Asked to clarify on the recruitment, Kivejinja declined on the grounds that his team did not take part in the preparation of the document.
However, according to the statement which the minister presented to the meeting, the SPCs will be engaged for only two weeks and they will be paid unspecified safari day allowances.
Police officers train for at least nine months and the induction lasts another three months.
It is not clear if the time will be adequate to train the new lot since just nine months remain to the presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.
The Police Force also asked for sh2.54b to recruit the extra hands and another sh11.1b for training. It also wants an unspecified amount of money to handle other aspects of the elections.
Besides the SPCs, the Police Force also plans to recruit 5,000 probational Police constables and 500 cadets to improve the current ratio of one policeman to 500 persons and to meet the increasing policing challenges.
During the meeting, the deputy Prisons chief, James Mwanjje, said his staff members sleep in canteens for lack of houses.
As a result, Mwanjje said, immorality and HIV prevalence among them had shot up.
Currently, Luzira Prisons has over 300 staff members, but none of them is housed.
To solve the problem, the prisons department plans to construct 107 low-cost houses at sh1.5b in the five prisons of Luzira, Mbarara, Bushenyi and Ruimi. Each house unit, Mwanjje added, will cost sh12m.
Luzira Prison was built in 1927 for 600 inmates, but now accomadates 2,500. The Government has meanwhile provided sh3b for the purchase of land to relocate Kigo Prison. The Kigo land belongs to the Kabaka, who has demanded it back.
THE Police Force is to recruit 16,500 Special Police Constables (SPCs) ahead of next year’s general elections, the internal affairs ministry said yesterday.
Defending the ministry’s budget before the defence and internal affairs committee of Parliament, minister Kirunda Kivejinja said the force has only 38,168 officers compared to the 22,000 gazetted polling stations.
“There is a shortfall of 16,500 personnel to effectively cover the exercise. This needs to be filled by recruiting and training special Police constables,†he said in a statement.
The Police chiefs had been slated to appear before the committee, but they failed to do so for unclear reasons. Instead, Kivejinja, his deputy Matia Kasaijja and Prison officials turned up.
Asked to clarify on the recruitment, Kivejinja declined on the grounds that his team did not take part in the preparation of the document.
However, according to the statement which the minister presented to the meeting, the SPCs will be engaged for only two weeks and they will be paid unspecified safari day allowances.
Police officers train for at least nine months and the induction lasts another three months.
It is not clear if the time will be adequate to train the new lot since just nine months remain to the presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.
The Police Force also asked for sh2.54b to recruit the extra hands and another sh11.1b for training. It also wants an unspecified amount of money to handle other aspects of the elections.
Besides the SPCs, the Police Force also plans to recruit 5,000 probational Police constables and 500 cadets to improve the current ratio of one policeman to 500 persons and to meet the increasing policing challenges.
During the meeting, the deputy Prisons chief, James Mwanjje, said his staff members sleep in canteens for lack of houses.
As a result, Mwanjje said, immorality and HIV prevalence among them had shot up.
Currently, Luzira Prisons has over 300 staff members, but none of them is housed.
To solve the problem, the prisons department plans to construct 107 low-cost houses at sh1.5b in the five prisons of Luzira, Mbarara, Bushenyi and Ruimi. Each house unit, Mwanjje added, will cost sh12m.
Luzira Prison was built in 1927 for 600 inmates, but now accomadates 2,500. The Government has meanwhile provided sh3b for the purchase of land to relocate Kigo Prison. The Kigo land belongs to the Kabaka, who has demanded it back.