Activists want president’s powers trimmed
Human rights activists have called for the review of some of the laws that give the president excessive powers for governance which they say have seen him militarize the Police Force.
The activists are concerned that the laws currently allow the president to choose who becomes the Inspector General of Police, and the different heads of different departments in the force.
Dr. Adrian Jjuuko, the Executive Director Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum says, the public must push their Members of Parliament to discuss this as a matter of national importance to rid the police force of army personnel.
“The situation that we see today in Uganda is that the police has basically been captured by the military. Every morning as you move to work, you find truckloads of police which are full of military men. This has become so common and so obvious that even the police are now dressed up like the military most of the time,” Jjuujo said.
He was speaking during a round table conference organised by the Network of Public Interest Lawyers (NETPIL) where scholars from Makerere University unveiled the study findings entitled militarization and military capture of the Uganda Police Force, in Kampala.
