Over 500 police officers sit for exams to African Union jobs in Somalia
A total of 587 Uganda Police officers on Tuesday sat for the African Union Pre -Assessment for Assistance Mission Service exams at Nsambya Youth Sharing Hall in Kampala.
These exams are conducted by the police force examinations body as one of the preliminary stages and successful officers later sit for interviews conducted by the continental body before successful candidates are deployed for African Union missions around the continent.
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The Director Peace Support Operations, Grace Turyagumanawe said such missions are of great benefit to both the police force and individual officers as it helps them gain experience.
“The welfare of individual officers improves while they serve on the mission but above all, they return with experience that they share with the colleagues back at home,” AIGP Turyagumanawe said.
On Tuesday, the police officers were led through both oral and written interviews in a bid to determine their apprehension skills and ability to write statements while on a mission.
The police director said that before being enrolled for the exams, one must have served the force for not less than five years, has a good record of conduct and has never been to any foreign mission.
“Those who pass the preliminary exams then sit for ones set by the African Union where successful officers are put in the database from which they are picked to serve in any country as required by the continental body,” he noted.
On Tuesday, officers from Traffic, general duties, Field Force Unit and Counter Terrorism participated in the interviews on Tuesday at the Nsambya Sharing Hall.
Last year, 200 police officers of the 430 who were aspiring to join the United Mission in Somalia-AMISOM failed the aptitude test and comprehensive interviews conducted at Namboole.
Only 50 police officers were required to join peacekeeping under AMISOM from Uganda.
However, only 19 police officers would later pass all the interviews indicating that only four percent of the police officers who applied the UN jobs passed the interviews.
They had been tested for skills in report writing, driving, shooting, ICT and international languages.
