UPDF to pass out LDUs on Friday

Over 6,000 Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel will on Friday be passed out and be deployed in the districts of Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono.

According to the deputy spokesperson of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), Lt. Col. Deo Akiiki, the 6,436 LDUs, who were recruited in October last year, will be passed out on Friday, after undergoing a four-month basic military training at Oliver Tambo Military Training School in Kaweweta, Nakaseke district.

"The pass out of the LDUs is this Friday," Akiiki said.

In his security address to the nation in September last year, President Yoweri Museveni, ordered for the recruitment of 24,000 LDUs, to among other things, beef up Police, the army and other security agencies, in the policing work across the country.

For the start, Museveni suggested, that the LDUs be deployed in the estimated 1, 000 villages that makeup Kampala, Wakiso and parts of Mukono districts, where pockets of organised crime were evident at the time.

By calling up the reserves, Museveni said, security presence, especially in urban centres, will be reinforced to counter city killings and plug up the gaps used by the killers.

"I have instructed that for the entire urban area, we will recruit 24,000 LDU's. It will cost us an extra sh57b, but that is not a problem," Museveni said during his security address to the nation in September last year.

UPDF conducted the LDU recruitment but halted the process after registering only 6, 436 personnel, saying the exercise will resume after the training of the first batch.

The President's address came against the backdrop of a wave of high profile assassinations.

The high profile assassinations that sent a wave of shock among the public domain include that of former Buyende district police commander, Muhammed Kirumira, former Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi, former Arua Municipality MP, Ibrahim Abiriga, Maj. Mohammed Kiggundu, the senior principal State Attorney, Joan Kagezi and Muslim clerics.

To tame the wave of urbanised crime, Museveni also ordered for the procurement and installation of CCTV cameras, and also commissioned the national surveillance system coordination centre of the CCTV footage at Natete Police Station.

Several CCTV cameras have since been mounted in various city centres to monitor to the city and its surroundings.