COVID-19: LDU, Police, resume night operations

CURFEW|COVID-19|LOCKDOWN

Having undergone extra training, the Local Defence Unit, officials have resumed official duties in Kampala and other parts of the country.

LDU, is an auxiliary force under the command of the UPDF and its duty is to ensure that every Ugandan is safe from any threat and all acts of criminality.

However, they had been suspended over torture allegedly inflicted against the members of the public with the latest being the one of Mityana District LC5 chairperson, Joseph Luzige.

On Thursday night, the Kampala Central Police Station operations commander, Ivan Nduhura led an operation in the central business centre, involving the LDUs.

In the process, over 30 people were arrested allegedly for flouting the COVID-19 regulations on curfew and the social operations procedures including social distancing.

During the Thursday operation, police cautioned women whom they found operating past curfew hours, to stop it, or risk being arrested. Other women were found sharing the same bed with men, while others were sleeping with their children on verandas.

Earlier, the UPDF spokesperson Brig. Flavia Byekwaso, said, the LDU operations will be carried out only at night and alongside the Uganda Police Force personnel.

"We have redeployed the LDUs after local leaders and the general public on several occasions petitioned security leaders to re-engage them in order to contain the situation. LDUs will not participate in the daytime enforcement of COVID-19 directives," she said.