The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has welcomed the endorsement by the 27th Police Council meeting held at Police Headquarters, Naguru on Thursday 23rd November 2023 to revive the Special Branch Unit in police force.

UPC’s spokesperson Arach Oyat Sharon, appealed to Government to clearly streamline the role of the Police Special Branch in the intelligence work such that it is not interfered with by other security agencies as well as ensuring that proper resources are made available to facilitate the smooth operation of the Special Branch.

She said that Electoral violence which is on the increase and other irregularities like ballot stuffing and vote buying would easily be detected and stopped by the Police Special Branch. Adding that the increasing wave of our people who advance their personal interests with forged documents such as land titles and academic certificates can be demobilized by the Special Branch once it is operationalized and save the image of our country. The level at which the white collar crime is happening, we need institutional capacity!

It should be recalled that the Special Branch came into the picture in 1950s. When the decolonization and independence struggle was gaining pace, people were in the mood of agitation, demonstrations and holding of political rallies. There was need to get to the root bottom of who is who in the struggles. This needed better training and sophistication of officers and majority of them were taken overseas for studies.

However, in August 2007, the Special Branch was disbanded and its work was taken over by the Internal Security Organization (ISO). It has taken the country 16 years to revive the Police Special Branch whose work was very critical as far as intelligence and security are concerned in our respective communities. It is an institution that had firsthand information on any one, which we believe is vital not only for security purposes, but can also be used government appointments and vetting processes.

In the same way, UPC urged the public to be extra cautious as festive season draws near.

Muzeyi Faizo the head of media and communication in UPC said that the festive season generates its own pressures, money gets more important and scarce which leads to rogue elements in society to go for stealing sprees of any kind from household levels to business in markets, towns and cities.

He advised both the police and public to be extra alert and more vigilant as well as watching their valuables and movements at nights. Urging local councils and their defence should be patrolling their areas of operations.(trustedn)