East African Gazette
Kampala
To establish a strong and effective justice system, Uganda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, has stressed the urgent need for the government to address the persistent welfare issues faced by the police force.
He emphasized that the lack of resources within the force significantly hinders their ability to effectively prevent and investigate crimes.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa speaks during a meeting with Uganda Human Rights Commission at Parliamentary Building Kampala
Tayebwa also highlighted the importance of examining the entire chain of operations, particularly focusing on the investigations part, in order to bring about meaningful reform within the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS).
These remarks were made during the reception of a research report conducted by the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) on the working and living conditions of police personnel. The study, titled “Squeezing water out of a stone,” was carried out between February and July 2022 across 28 police regions, covering 75 districts. It revealed that while some officers have access to proper office structures, a significant number are forced to work in deteriorating facilities.
“If we are to reform the Justice, Law and Order Sector, and reform the criminal justice system in this country, we can’t do it just by appointing more judges, because the judges need to be served. At first, we appointed the judges, but there was a gap in prosecutors. So now we have looked at prosecutors and last financial year, we exempted their salaries from taxes which was a very big boost to the prosecution side. But now we need to look at the investigation side,” he noted.
Tayebwa observed that investors play a crucial role for prosecutors, whereas the judge also places trust in the prosecutor.
“So if you’re to do a whole ecosystem of a well-run criminal Justice, Law and Order system, then we have to ensure we don’t have mismatches whereby one sector is deeply looked at and the other sector isn’t looked at,” he noted.
The report will be thoroughly examined by Parliament, as emphasized by him, in order to address the concerns and suggestions put forth by the Uganda Human Rights Commission. Additionally, Tayebwa encouraged police personnel to take advantage of government incentives such as duty-free cement and iron sheets to build their retirement homes, while reminding them that the government will not provide retirement homes for them.
Furthermore, he commended the security forces for their exceptional efforts in maintaining the safety of the country’s borders and upholding law and order, even in challenging circumstances.
“That’s when the spirit of nationalism comes in but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t demand better working conditions. But I want to thank them because no one has stopped work because he/she doesn’t have better housing,” he said.
He urged the government to thoroughly examine the consequences of police silence in the face of a demanding work environment.
The study aimed to determine if the working and living conditions of police officers contributed to the occurrence of human rights abuses.
UHRC boss
While making a presentation on the findings, Mariam Wangadya, the chairperson of the commission, highlighted that their research revealed significant deficiencies in the overall living and working conditions of the Uganda Police Force (UPF) personnel.
In certain instances, these conditions were not only substandard but also reached unimaginable levels of extremity.
“The situation of housing/accommodation in UPF was dire with institutional accommodation largely dilapidated; comprising shared rooms partitioned by either curtains or makeshift boards; condemned structures and uniports unfit for human habitation,” she added.
She highlighted that junior staff members faced the greatest challenges in obtaining suitable housing, as they were frequently forced out of institutional accommodations by more senior personnel.
The report additionally revealed alarming levels of unfairness, reaching up to 70%, in the areas of deployments, transfers, and promotions.
These injustices were attributed to unethical practices such as corruption, favoritism, tribalism, nepotism, reliance on personal connections, and bribery.
Furthermore, the report emphasized that personnel were responsible for covering the expenses of their own relocation, regardless of the circumstances or reasons behind their deployment or transfer.
Uganda Human Rights Commission chairperson, Mariam Wangadya (left) and Uganda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa holds copy of the report after meeting at Parliamentary building Kampala.
The study shows that out of those interviewed only 23% of the officers are okay with the kennel-like offices they work from.
“Only 23% of the respondents indicated that their office space was sufficient. The 62% who reported insufficient space revealed that, most of the police stations/posts lacked space for particular offices such as CID, Field Force Unit, Child and Family Protection Unit, armoury, exhibit store, radio room, suspects’ cells, health unit and CCTV room, among others and as such they opted to improvise or share. Some police units had improvised with arms chests in lieu of the armoury and grass-thatched huts in lieu of permanent structures,” the report says.
Remuneration
The report highlights that both professional and non-professional individuals expressed dissatisfaction with their salaries, which they deemed insufficient to keep up with the rising cost of living and meet their needs.
Additionally, the findings indicate that retired personnel are facing frustration due to delays in processing retirement, pension, and gratuity, caused by bureaucratic hurdles and irregularities, despite the presence of a well-structured retirement scheme.
Furthermore, the report reveals that staff welfare initiatives such as the Police Saving Association Ltd (PSAL) and the Exodus Police SACCO have limited effectiveness due to various operational constraints. These include inadequate loan limits that hinder meaningful projects, transparency issues, and bureaucratic challenges, among others.
In light of these findings, Wangandya appealed to Parliament to allocate a higher budget to the UPF.
She stressed that increased funding would enable the force to enhance the working and living conditions of its personnel, as well as facilitate the proper execution of their duties while upholding the human rights of all individuals.
“The UPF requires facilitation to develop and implement a standard design for a police station/post that conforms to human rights standards; update staff records to facilitate the rights of the personnel; harmonize remuneration; provide adequate equipment and supplies; disseminate laws to all personnel; and improve communication and information flow, among others,” she noted.
She emphasized the importance of garnering support from all individuals to assist the police force in promoting accountability and eradicating impunity for human rights violations.
This includes empowering police officers to adhere to human rights standards and safeguarding them from unwarranted retaliation when they uphold the law.
Simultaneously, it is crucial to ensure that those responsible for wrongdoing are appropriately penalized.
It further shows that only 49% of the police officers have full staff uniform, 45% stationery and 33% fuel, oil and lubricants whereas only 16% get food ration and 6% meals on duty.
The Commissioner of Uganda Human Rights Commission, Crispin Kahuru (left) chat with the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa (right) during a meeting with Uganda Human Rights Commission at Parliamentary Building Kampala. Center is a Commissioner, Shifrah Lukwago
“Those who said they had other supplies such as police forms (PF3, PF18, statement forms) reflector jackets, SD (station Diaries) books, warm suits, plain clothes allowance, soap and sanitary towels for female suspects, blankets and mattresses for SGBV victims and weather jackets were only 16%. Majority (80%) of these said the supplies were insufficient, 11% said they were partly sufficient and only 6% said they were sufficient. The supplies were a challenge in police posts and some police stations because they had no budgetary allocation for imprest. RPCs, DPCs, some OC stations were said to be receiving office imprest ranging from shs300,000 to shs 2,000,000 per quarter, which was inadequate given the number of stations/posts and the districts covered by each,” the report indicates.
The study shows that most supplies such as stationery and fuel were used up in the first month of the quarter, some police personnel improvised by using their own money from their meagre pay to buy some supplies, while others depended on the support and good will of well-wishers such as community members, politicians, religious organisations, schools, district/sub-county local government offices, NGOs and local business owners.
In some police stations/post police, the personnel requested clients/suspects or their relatives to photocopy PF3 or PF18 before they were rendered services.
The report shows that some personnel who were officially living outside the barracks raised concerns about their personal security at their places of residence, high rental charges and the challenge of finding decent accommodation that does not put the police force in disrepute.
The study indicates that the distance between residences and workplaces impacted on availability of personnel at the workplace for efficient service delivery.
Whereas 92% were found to live relatively near their duty stations (0-3km), 5% lived between 3-8kms away, while 3% lived more than 8kms away even up to 14kms, the UPF does not facilitate their staff with organised transport to and from work yet they are on call 24/7.
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