IGP Kale Kayihura is angry that he has been misquoted
Leading Ugandan newspaper The Observer yesterday (27 January) quoted the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gen. Edward Kale Kayihura as having said that his forces would intervene if the opposition won the elections next month.
After several hours
in which the IGP was battered on social media, police finally responded in the
afternoon, saying, “We believe that the IGP was quoted out of context by the
various media houses during the recent event in Kapchorwa. We now avail to you
the IGP's speech on that day - transcribed."
They promised to share the audio soon after.
The transcribed speech does not mention any controversial
quotes by the IGP as reported by the press.
The transcribed speech did not however reduce the attacks on social media. It did not help that Kayihura did not respond on
his twitter handle @askIGP all day Wednesday while police, only responded late in the day via their
facebook page.
Among the people who went to twitter to respond to the
report was The European Union Ambassador to Uganda Kristian Schmidt, who asked Kayihura
whether he was quoted accurately.
@EUAmbschmidt asked “General,
I respectfully ask: Were you quoted correctly in today’s Observer?”
There was no direct reply to the ambassador until Thursday afternoon.
Most commentators on social media
were unhappy with the said quotes, with only policeman, Assistant Inspector General of Police Asan Kasingye and
civil servant Pam Ankunda coming out in defence of Kayihura.
They both fought back, arguing that Ugandans should first hear the other side of the story, from Kayihura, before criticizing the police. They said he had been
misquoted.
In the news: EU chief Schmidt and PM Rugunda at an earlier event
Prime minster Rugunda: “We are ready to give
power to [Amama] Mbabazi or [Kizza] Besigye when there is free and fair
election.”
Kayihura a day later : “We shall not hand over
power to the opposition to destabilize the peace which we fought for. We are going to
change you from having sticks to rifles and get ready to defend this country in
case of any attack. The constitution gives police powers to protect the nation
in case there is war and I want you to get prepared for this; anytime, we shall
call on you.”
HERE IS THE FULL SPEECH as transcribed by CP Fred Enanga
IGP’s speech at the crime preventer pass out at Sebei
College on January 21, 2016
The Woman MP Kapchorwa, the Aspiring MP, the RDC, I am
overwhelmed by your presence on this day, when we are beginning the sports gala
organized by the UPF.
It is a two day event where we are honoring and
celebrating the people of Sebei as well as other parts of Uganda, which have
produced athletes that have won gold medals and other medals and brought honor
to the country. It would have been done a bit earlier, but we have done it now,
especially we police, because you have given us your children and they are
winning gold medals, in both international and regional championships, and as
well, brought honor to the police, as well as to the country.
We would have it in Kampala, but we said we had to do it
with the families of the athletes and the community. And so that is the reason
we are here.
Today is the beginning; we saw it appropriate to combine it
with the pass out of crime preventers who are passing out in this region. I
would like to thank them for having turned up and responded to our call in such
big numbers, 65000 is not a small number.
RDCs of Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo,
I don’t know how many police officers you have there in uniform and if we are
to deploy them, I don’t think we can confidently say we can fight crime. But
with the resource of 65000 crime preventers and you have seen what they have
shown to you in two months, because this means a lot, it means fitness, it
shows a team which is organized, so this is our force and in case you are
attacked from across, but I don’t think it can happen, now we have got a force
to deal with them. All we need to do is to change the sticks and give them
rifles and by the way I would like to tell you this, you are a reserve of the
army, in case of war, you will be called upon because the police are the reserve
of the army, according to the law.
Kayihura makes his speech at the weekend.
Photo by Daily Monitor
According to the Police Act, the Minister of Internal
Affairs, at any time, can call the police to serve as a military force, so by
extension the crime preventers in case of any a war, can be called upon. And
that’s why they should be trained in skills at arm and self defense, so that
you have a force here. And by the way, this is a continuation where it started
in our neighborhood zone, in the fight against state inspired terrorism of Idi
Amin, through the struggles of Mr. Sabila and FRONASA who fought against Idi
Amin and won.
So what people are trying to vulgarize and confuse, started long
time ago in 1977, in the fight against Idi Amin, when they empowered people to
fight against crime in government.
And at that time Idi Amin was killing people, Maliyamungu,
and so they mobilized the people, and fought with the support of Tanzania. Then
later, after the Idi Amin dictatorship, they fought terrorism in the government
after 1981, where some patriots went to the bush. This was by mobilizing people
to fight the government which had the support of the most powerful countries in
the world and removed it after five years.
We are celebrating 30 years next week and the victory of the
people’s war. So when I went to the police and found the idea of this community
policing, neighborhood watch, I said I will organize the ordinary people to
fight crime and criminals and if you see in all communities, in all districts,
the criminals are few, but they are organized, where as the law abiding
citizens are many but are not organized. So the whole idea is organizing at the
neighborhood level and empowering them with self defense and other skills as
the surest way of eliminating crime.
For instance every year when we issue Annual Crime Report,
the biggest crime is defilement and domestic violence, and the victims are
women and girls. So the answer to that is the taekwondo you see here, and we
want this program to develop in schools like this Sebei college, especially, to empower the girls because we can not have
enough police to police everybody.
Even the UN ratio says 1 police to 500 people, so you can
never have enough police to ensure security. So it is only through people
participation that you can effectively deal with the crime. So for this
program, those who criticize it don’t understand what they are talking about
and I want to pay tribute to those who have volunteered.
It is a volunteers program and that is what it is all about
and I think our political leaders try to confuse it. And they have even
misinformed our friends, the Europeans and Americans that even when they come
here; they come asking for crime preventers. They think crime preventers are a
group who cause mayhem at the rallies.
If you go to America you find crime preventers yet they have
a bigger police force and resources than us the 3rd world countries. Am very
very grateful to H.E the President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and even
Parliament, who have come up very clearly to say no, this is a legitimate program,
it is constitutional , lawful , it is empowering , its improving strength of
the country .
These people who are talking, some of them are ignorant, and
I am suspicious they want our country to remain disorganized and weak, so that
they can swallow us, especially when they have heard there is oil. You know
when they talk about the oil curse, what they mean. So the government is very
clear on this matter and nobody should even waste our time because this is a
democratic policing. We are empowering ourselves, the community, to fight
criminals in the neighborhood. I don’t know even whom they vote and it’s not my
business. Mine is special that the country is secure 24/7.
The other day there was some Human Rights Watch lady and she
is even my friend, who came to ask me and even made a statement that we suspend
crime preventers. And my response was, “ok if you want me to suspend crime
preventers you should also suspend the criminals”, but will not suspend the
crime preventers because the criminal’s are there.
So I will go deep in this, but most important is, this is a
program of the police nobody should confuse. We have a department of community
policing headed by a Commissioner who reports to Chief Political Commissioner
of Police. She is called CP Namutebi, so it is not a grump just there which we disown and they have got an
organization right from national level, district, county and sub county, up to
the village. And we are trying to link it to the LC system and “mayumba kumi”.
We want to revise the “mayumba kumi”.
So I don’t know how many villages are in Sebei region? So it
is times 30 which will be a big force, I have tasked the Director Ochom of
Research and Planning, to in the 5 year strategic plan, come out clearly on
this matter of the recruitment and training of crime preventers, and we see how
we expect to be by 2021. And I hope by
that time we shall have 300 crime preventers per village in Sebei region,
meaning each village will have two companies to defend it against criminals and
vanish these people, the so called “kanyama”, who beat people and steal goats,
chicken, cows and sheep which we survive on.
We want Uganda to create a crime free society on this idea
and nobody will stop us as long as we have the responsibility of keeping this
country safe and secure.
Crime preventers you are doing things out of charity, I want
to thank you because you are volunteering, you are more enlightened, that may
be the others don’t know, that it is in your interest to keep your neighborhood
watch and your community safe and secure .
So I don’t need to pay you to keep your home. In the bush, I
was not given a salary and I want to pay tribute to you because you have joined
us to work out of conviction that whatever you do in the community is real
serving and is also in your interest.
The President would wish to come to pass you like he has
done it in other parts like the Elgon region but is very busy on other programs
and even tomorrow, he would want to come but has delegated the Prime Minster of
Uganda, because he appreciates the importance of this cause.
I just want to pay tribute to you for joining the effort,
but it is not for nothing. We can’t give you salary because you are in
millions; right now we have got 11 million throughout the country. The police are
only 43000 and crime preventers are 11 million, but they have made a big
difference in the whole country. We can’t pay you salary but you are going to
get projects, this is real, so that as you serve, you have projects which can
bring income to you at the same time you are liberating the country.
Police spokesman Enanga.
As police we shall share the little we have, you have got a
very good SACCO and if this SACCO works, it will be a vehicle through which you
can get more support.
We are trying to get you identification and this will be
equivalent to a police warrant card, I can’t promise when, but it is in the
making, as well as uniforms, torches, gumboots and watches. As I said, this is
just the beginning of the sports gala, we will say more about sports tomorrow,
but today was dedicated to passing out the 65000 crime preventers in the Sipi
region.
Tomorrow it is going to be the main day where we shall begin
at 6 O’clock, with a 10 km run and I will participate in the 10 km race. And I
invite all of you to participate; including all crime preventers although I am
passing them out today. If you fail to participate, I may have to reconsider
because this should be your routine. We are determined to change and swipe all
the gold medals the other side of the border in Kenya and bring them to this
side of the boarder.
Thanks to your children.
It is now my pleasure to declare the course of crime
preventers in Sebei region complete and to pass you out as crime preventers of
this region.
TRANSCRIBED BY
CP Fred Enanga
Press and Public Relations Officer
Uganda Police
27.01.2016
