By Watchdog reporter
Could this be true? Newly appointed police Spokesperson Asan Kasingye has shocked the nation when he revealed that Uganda has 11 million crime preventers.
According to Kasingye, all the 11 million crime preventers are doing their job well regardless of some challenges.
However, details are scant on crime preventers’ numbers and training, but Uganda’s Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura, reportedly set a target of 1.6 million crime preventers, or around 30 in each of Uganda’s 56,000 villages.
Last year, President Yoweri Museveni presided over passing out ceremonies for hundreds of thousands of crime preventers across the country and has described their role as preventing “petty crimes of stealing chicken, coffee and more.”
Candidates from opposition parties opposed their deployment, however, maintaining that the vigilantes are intimidating anyone dissenting from the ruling National Resistance Movement.
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