An estimated 130 crime preventers from Gulu were on Monday night ferried to Kampala allegedly for president Museveni’s first campaign rally scheduled for today at Kololo ceremonial grounds.
The crime preventers were transported in two buses belonging to Gulu university faculty of agriculture and another owned by Gulu Senior Secondary School, a government owned school in Gulu town.
The headmaster of the school Michael Apire confirmed to Acholi Times that he was contacted yesterday evening by the police commander who informed him that they [police] were interested in hiring the school bus.
‘‘The DPC approached me and said he wanted to hire the school bus to take crime preventers to Kampala,’’ said Mr Apire.
Apire revealed the bus was hired at 1.8 million shillings and that the hire was inline with a policy agreed on by parents of the school that the school bus should be used to generate revenue.
Northern Region Police Commander, Wilson Kwanye said he was not aware of the transportation of the Gulu crime preventers to Kampala. He referred our reporter to Gulu district police commander Martin Okoyo who said he could not comment because he was in a meeting.
For nearly two hours last night, two buses were seen packed at Gulu Central police before taking off with the crime preventers at around 11 pm.
‘‘We were told to come here [Gulu Central Police] and that we are going to Kampala but we don’t know how many days we will spend there,’’ one of the crime preventers told Acholi Times.
The crime preventers were reportedly briefed by Gulu Central Police Commander Martin Okoyo before they left for Kampala.
“The DPC just told us that we shall get the details [of their travel] from there [Kampala],” a crime preventer said in an interview on Tuesday.
The country-wide recruitment of crime preventers’, police says is aimed at providing a ‘‘link between the Uganda Police Force and Ugandan communities in the fight against crime,’’ wrote a police spokesperson in a recent commentary published in the New Vision and Daily Monitor.
‘‘They [crime preventers] provide information which is the most essential ingredient in crime prevention. This information is then processed by the area commanders to obtain intelligence such as in domestic-related crimes, land wrangles, burglaries, etc.’’
But the Opposition has consistently claimed that the crime preventers are in essence NRM campaign agents for Museveni’s re-election bid. Human rights activists have also voiced concern that the crime preventers are militias who could be involved in election violence.
One of the Gulu crime preventers who spoke Acholi Times from Kololo grounds on Tuesday morning said they were having breakfast and that they had all been ”dressed in yellow NRM shirts”. He said they were waiting for instruction on what to do next after breakfast.
By Willy Choowo
