The Uganda Police Force has embarked on a community policing campaign in the Karamoja sub region as one of the ways to ensure lasting peace in the region that has seen several attacks from cattle rustlers.
On Monday, the police’s head of the community policing department, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Anatoli Muleterwa, pitched camp in the area as he engaged locals and their leaders in a bid to ensure peace.
“We have been able to speak to local leaders from the districts of Abim, Kotido and Kaabong and a number of issues discussed. We have been told that the problem of early child marriages is rampant in the area as children as young as 10 and 14 years are married off in the name of getting animals, food and material gain. We told the leaders this is wrong,” Muleterwa said.
“We asked local leaders and the population to report any cases of child marriage to authorities so that culprits are arrested and arraigned before courts of law.”
He noted that during the community policing engagement, police was able to find out that the issue of cattle rustling in the three districts is specifically ignited by the Jie of Kotido who tend to destabilize Agago, Otuke and Abim.
According to Muleterwa, locals and their leaders asked for police and other security agencies’ protection to help deal with the problem.
“The communities shared their outcry about the Jie who are a problem and threat to life and property. We informed them that police and working day and night to stop the problem. We asked them to share information about those engaged in cattle rustling to ensure it is ended.”
The head of the police’s community policing department also noted that during their engagement, it was found out that the issue of child trafficking is rampant in the area.
“Many children are trafficked to neighbouring countries including Kenya and South Sudan under the pretext of labour. They eventually end up abroad. We were also told of a problem of children who are taken by parents to beg on streets, especially in Kotido. We condemned all this and tasked LCs and probation officers to help solve these problems.”
The police team said the engagement has helped them strengthen relationship with the locals in a bid to help fight crime.
“We thought we should be at fore front of engaging these people through sensitization and crime prevention strategies to help end this crime.”
The campaign is funded by the European Union (EU) under the Development Initiatives for Northern Uganda (DINU) program and coordinated by Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).
Karamoja
Karamoja region has in the past few years been a beehive of activities as security agencies battle with cattle rustlers who have continued to terrorise the area.
A number of people including local leaders and security personnel have died at the hands of the armed rustlers but on the other hand, a number of the warriors have been killed by security during operations .
Several guns have also been recovered in the operations done jointly by the UPDF and Police.