The Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija (pictured) has admitted that the deplorable housing conditions where Police and Prisons officers are sleeping like pigs shames him and focus has now been put on ending that shame.
Kasaija made the admission while appearing before Parliament’s Human Rights Committee where he had been summoned to respond to recommendations made to Ministry of Finance in the 2018-202021 annual reports by Uganda Human Rights Commission.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission in its recommendations called for increased funding to Uganda Police Force, Uganda People’s Defence Forces and Uganda Prisons Services to ensure the rights of staff and inmates through provision of clean water and sanitation, decent housing are adhered to.
In response, the Minister said that accommodation to entitle officers currently stands at 30%, and admitted that this performance is still low and it is lowest within Police.
“Our police officers are really living in miserable ways. If you are going to Ntinda and you look at the left hand side, it is really a shame. I had to take trouble convincing people that this money is provided. Me I intend to even partly supervise this project and I appeal to you all members to help us and ensure that every coin is accounted for because really this is a shame,” said Kasaija.
Asked by journalists what plans Government has in dealing with the poor accommodation within Police, Kasaija said the concern isn’t with Parliament and Government but it should concern all Ugandans that Police officers are sleeping like pigs.
“It isn’t just MPs, but would you like our Police officers to sleep like pigs? The plans are there and you know that in the structure of Police, accommodation is one of the priorities but we shall try. It is just that Uganda’s revenue was affected but if it hadn’t been the case, I would have told you the particular years when this housing facility will be dealt with,” explained Kasaija.
The development comes at the Police top management had requested Parliament for Shs70Bn to purchase classified stores commonly known as unipots and the contractor had asked for an advance payment of 30%.
