Kwania COVID-19 Taskforce Decry Lack of Manpower, Asks Gov’t to Reinstate SPCs
Written by admin on July 13, 2021
The Kwania District COVID-19 Taskforce wants the government to reinstate Special Police Constables-SPCs to address the manpower challenges there. According to the task force, there are only 78 police officers in the district, making it difficult to enforce the COVID-19 preventive measures.
While announcing the 42 day’s lockdown in June this year, president, Yoweri Museveni announced a number of measures to contain the second wave of COVID-19. These included among others revising the curfew hours from 9:00 pm to 7:00 pm up to 5:30 am, suspension of inter-district travels, a ban on both public and private transport and the shutdown of weekly markets among others.
However, Kwania District COVID-19 Taskforce says that they are finding challenges in enforcing the directives due to manpower problems. As a result, they want the government to reinstate Special Police Constables-SPCs recruited during the polls to complement police work.
Geoffrey Alex Ogwal Adyebo, the Kwania District LC V Chairperson, says the number of officers enforcing the directives is inadequate based on the report presented by the District Police Commander-DPC.
He cited the Nambieso police outpost in Nambieso Sub County, which has only two police officers against the population of 57,100 residents.
Ivan Nuwagaba, the acting Kwania District Police Commander acknowledged the manpower problem, saying it even affects their normal operations. He says currently they partnered with local leaders to help in the enforcement of the directives.
Nuwagaba says that they have received information that some weekly markets have resumed normal operations and asked those involved to stop, saying they risk arrest.
As of July 11th 2021, Kwania had cumulatively registered 91 COVID-19 cases out of 1,223 samples taken, with 12 recoveries, according to the District Health Officer, Dr. Moses Ebong.
