Big Interview: Corruption is biggest challenge in Police- Kasingye

Former Chief Political Commissar at Uganda Police, Assistant Inspector General of Police Asan Kasingye, retired from the force two months ago and handed over office to his deputy after his application for extension of his contract went unanswered.

In an interview with the Nile Post, Kasingye shared with us his life journey after retirement, service in the police and why he authored a book “Chosen” which will be launched on July 30. 

Excerpts below:

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How is life after retirement because most officers fear to go for it?

The way I can describe it [for instance] in my case, you take 33 years in an institution doing specific work, you marry and have a family while in that work, you probably buy your first car while you are in that work. Most of the friends have known you while in that work. Probably you spent more than half of you time in the office, in the uniform. Now immediately you transit and you go back, there is definitely going to be a change.

You are used to a certain way of doing things, of a certain discipline, the way you conduct yourself, the kind of people you meet, the kind of business you do every day and then you transit immediately into another. You need time to reorient yourself to the life you were in before you joined the police.

I had emotionally prepared for retirement. Preparing for retirement must start on the day you sign up for your work.

How can someone prepare for retirement on the day he or she signed for the job?

The question is whatever you do, even if you did it when you were young in the profession. Even if you did it when you were one day on the profession, it is going to determine your retirement back in the community. Suppose you abused someone, suppose you took someone’s money when you were a cadet, suppose you locked up someone when you were not supposed to lock them up, suppose you shot someone. Whatever you did, whether it was one day or two days into work is going to reflect on your retirement.

How do you plan to spend your retirement?

I have bigger plans. You see I believe you are maybe in the first quarter of your work, there are certain objectives or things you want to achieve, you want a family, you want a land, you want maybe a farm among others. So they are there. So the plans are, I will be able now to go and run them. If I have 20 pieces of land, I need to put some cattle there at commercial level and it gives me money every day. I must have a business that brings in income and I believe this is achievable. But I also think I am still energetic, my mental {state} is still in the right place. I can still be useful. I am not yet 60, I am 58 years old. I believe I am in my prime much as I said the body should rest, the body will rest for three months and then it needs to work because it used to work.

How did you feel when the head of state extended the contract of other directors at the rank of AIGP and you were no among them?

I was appointed AIGP in 2009 and we were getting three years [of extension] but after that they were two years. What does that show you? It shows you that I have been applying for contracts maybe four times. This was the fifth time. Every time I applied for a contract, I have been given the extension of the contract but there were some people who were not given. To me, I am not special from others. There are others who have retired. This doesn’t mean those who retired were poor performers or had criminal offences.

What are some of the achievements you can say you made while in the force that made you stand out from the rest?

I think that could be another book. In my book [Chosen] I gave one chapter of that but for me the most important thing is serving the people. I have been from day one part of the concept of community policing in this country. Before I joined the police it was not there, it actually started with me. I was lucky to be the first officer to start implementing community policing.

Internally I have also in the period I have been there especially at senior level, invested in making sure that our police officers are professional and must answer to the call of serving the people and I never rested. I was going around telling them why they were given that uniform. Even the achievements that we get as a team, even in major operations, the concept of community policing helps to achieve whatever you want to do.

In your view, why do you think the public is losing trust in the force and what should be done to fully restore it?

The biggest problem that we have and we must solve it is corruption is the force. We must deal with corruption. We must not only talk about it but we must act. Once we act and people see that we are acting, I can tell you that the trust will come back. If we have restored the trust, we must deal with ethical issues and part of these are corruption. We must get the corrupt. Even the mere allegation should be investigated to the end.

Police have on several times topped the list of perpetrators of violence against journalists. Why are these officers not brought to book?

Once you take action against an officer, then it must be seen because I know there are officers who have been charged and action taken against them. I am saying that because I was the chairman of the Court of Appeal in Police. There have been mechanisms of improving the relations between the media and the police. The Inspector General of Police and senior leadership have met leaders of different associations of journalists. I think we can explore more ways of having workshops together, having meetings together. We need to consciously build relations because we need each other.

If given another chance in police, what are some of the things you feel you need to accomplish.

I will deal with corruption. You see, everything we are going to do is not going to be achievable qualitatively if we don’t deal with the issues that make people lose trust in us and one of the things that make people lose trust in us is corruption. You see every year you cannot be voted the most corrupt for 10 years and you think everything is okay. We must deal with it and once trust levels have gone up, then you can say police will now start dealing with real issues of crime. If I come back, I will start with the issue of corruption.

How can this be achieved?

This can be achieved through proper training, recruitment, proper placement of our officers, proper promotional courses and through proper welfare of the police and through regular checking on them. The most important is that we must investigate, take action against them and we see corruption out of the police.

How best can the welfare of the force be improved?

By the way the welfare of the force is being handled but as you know we are a government body and we depend on budgets. So you cannot say the police will get all the budget they want. Whatever is got is used in improving welfare, especially housing the barracks and officer’s accommodation. If you have been keen, you must have seen that every quarter the police are opening about two regional police stations. Big projects that have cost about Shs 800 million or Shs 600 million. The management of the police is not sleeping on the improving welfare of the police.

Some people used to wonder how you would get time to be on social media, especially twitter all the time?

I think as a Chief Political Commissar, my work is to know the views of the people about the organisation. In this age of communication, what is the best method? Its social media, so if I am doing it why are people saying I am not working. I am working. I think on social media, you solve half of the problems that would have gone to police stations. People want to reach someone to create a change on what is happening. I think what I am doing should be done by everybody. If you are the DPC, be on social media and get to know what is happening in your district. If you are the regional police commander, be on social media to see what is happening in your region.

Talk about your book “Chosen” which is due to be launched on 30th this month?

Chosen is an autobiography about Asan Kasingye. The book starts from as far as Asan Kasingye knows from his roots. He talks about the roots; he talks about his family. He talks about the community is born in, he talks about his education journey, he talks about experiences in all those institutions. He also talks about life in the police, what he was able to achieve, what he has not been able to achieve. He talks about family and what he has given to the community. He believes that God knew him before he was born and that God chose him for a specific purpose. Whatever you see in that book is an honest story of what happened at a particular time.

What strategy have you put in place to market the book?

We shall try to make sure it’s available. It will be available on the launch [30th of this month]. It will be available on Jumia. We have made the deliveries of the copies that will be bought on the Jumia platforms but we can also put it on Amazon. Why not? We shall also put it in book stores across the country where people can afford it. Even if it means taking it in front of a church, we shall do so.