President Museveni has piled more pressure on the police accusing it of being infiltrated by “rotten elements” who “hobnob with criminals”.
The President used his 31st State of the nation Address to reiterate his order to the police leadership to clean up their house.
The president however praised the UPDF which he said have achieved peace by wiping out rebel groups from the country and other countries like somalia, Central Africa Republic and southern Sudan.
Museveni gave examples such as the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Allied Democratic Forces rebels. He also said that the UPDF has succeeded in disarming Karamojong cattle rustlers but wondered why the police have failed to deal with lawlessness in the country.
This is not the first time the president is talking tough against the police. While speaking to mourners at AIGP Kaweesi’s home in March, the president said that the police had been infiltrated by criminals who were crippling the security of the country.
Mr Museveni again, cited the high-profile assassinations, recent house break-ins, robberies and theft of cash crops saying the police must deal with the situation.
“The UPDF has the capacity to ensure that nobody disturbs the peace of Uganda. However, as you saw recently there has been a spike of lawlessness in the country,” Mr Museveni said.
“Peace means absence of war but it also includes absence of lawlessness. The Police and the intelligence services have been rightly criticized by the public for being lax in handling information given to them by the public (and) sometimes leaking this information, corruption in the form of extorting money from the public, and high-handedness in dealing with the public,” Mr Museveni said.
The president added; “those who taint their hand with hobnobbing with criminals will only let themselves down,” Mr Museveni said.
In a direct message to the police boss Gen Kale Kayihura, Museveni said that the police must listen to the public and fight crime.
“Police leadership must listen to the public and clean up the few rotten elements.”
Although the president rubbished the police; he praised the army adding that anyone who insults the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) risks attracting his wrath.