The Chief Political Commissar in the Uganda Police Force, AIGP Asan Kasingye, has urged officers in the Siipi Region to avoid any form of corruption but also keep off cases of indiscipline for a better service delivery to the public.
AIGP Kasingye who is on a rectification and ideological orientation tour in the region sounded the warning as he met officers from Bukwo, Kween and Kapchorwa districts.
“I’m going throughout the country talking to officers about the issue of corruption, like selling of police bond. Service delivery cannot reach the grassroots. We don’t serve with patriotism just because of the cancer of corruption. We must tackle corruption head-on,” AIGP Kasingye said.
He warned officers to desist from corrupt tendencies.
“We are now having a zero tolerance on corruption. If anyone has been implicated in issues of bribery and other issues of corruption, we are not going to transfer these officers from district to another because he was corrupt in the former district, we are going to try our officers and if found culpable, we shall dismiss them from the police,” he warned.
AIGP Kasingye said cases of indiscipline dent the image of the force. He, therefore, asked officers to join discipline with no corruption so as to keep the force’s image intact.
“If we twin discipline and avoid corruption, I have no doubt that we are going to change the image of the police force into what Ugandans expect of us.
In short, we are emphasizing the tenets of community policing program. The police should be in touch with the public that we serve. So, we have encouraged the officers to go the field talk to the community and listen to their problems. So, community policing is going to be heightened to solve all the problems that we have,” AIGP Kasingye added.
In 2015, Uganda Police Force management passed a policy that requires the Chief Political Commissar to go around the country and carry out a rectification campaign exercise, visit units across the country to be able to understand and appreciate the conditions under which police officers serve and then rectify the problems while in the field or return the concerns to police management if the issues are longterm.