Museveni deploys elite army units in Kampala to deal with violence

President Museveni has said elite UPDF units have been deployed in the city suburbs to help deal with any forms of violence that would arise before, during and after the election period.

Giving his New Year message that was televised on Thursday; the President said that owing to the November 18 riots that broke out in the city and other towns after the arrest of National Unity Platform’s Robert Kyagulanyi and left more than 50 people dead, he decided to deploy some army units to help in monitoring the situation.

“…..but the background to all this is that because of the indiscipline and criminality of some of the opposition groups which resulted in the serious riots and violence of the other month, I deployed highly trained units from our army who have been doing much of the fighting in areas like Somalia, fighting ADF into the Kampala area because of the weakness and corruption of some of the police elements which had allowed Kampala to have no go areas,”Museveni said.

The President explained that the units deployed in various suburbs of the city starting November 20, 2020 have done a good job in dealing with hardcore criminals.

“They were able to deal with some hardcore criminals. A number of hardcore criminals were arrested and many of them have cooperated with security forces,” he said.

Stings police again

Just like he has done in the past, President Museveni insisted that the move to deploy highly-trained army units in Kampala and its suburbs was informed by the failure by police to detect and prevent crimes, specifically the deadly November riots that stemmed from the arrest of Kyagulanyi.

“This operation against people who were misled by the police being corrupt, weak, not responding to cries of the people led criminals to think they are untouchable. Because of the weakness of the police, some of these people had lost balance.”

“It is that background that caused these highly trained units that don’t have anything to do with civilian matters to be deployed in Kampala.”

Museveni last month made some changes in the Police Force in which he replaced Maj.Gen.Muzeeyi Sabiiti with Maj.Gen. Paul Lokech as the Deputy Inspector General of Police.

Muzeeyi was taken back to the army headquarters awaiting a new deployment.

The Nile Post has since learnt that the purge stemmed from the way police responded and handled the November 18 riots that saw the army deployed to save the situation.

Speaking about the same, Museveni noted that the police had been infiltrated by weevils.

“They had got some weevils and I made some changes. For the Police, I have told them I won’t tolerate this nonsense anymore. Anyone who can’t defend the people should go home and rear goats,” Museveni said recently.

2021 polls

Speaking on Thursday, Museveni warned that he would decisively deal with anyone who wants to cause chaos in the forthcoming 201 polls.

“I, therefore, would like to advise the opposition, especially those who are fond of intimidation that this will not work for them. Nobody should intimidate the people of Uganda. If you have a point of view, convince them.  We are not going to tolerate this,” Museveni said while delivering his New Year address on Thursday.