The Minister of Internal Affairs, Ephraim Kamuntu, has assured Parliament that all suspects arrested by security agencies will be detained in gazetted places of detention and processed in accordance with the law.
Minister Kamuntu said the government was committed to upholding constitutional provisions governing the arrest, detention and trial of suspects, particularly Articles 23 and 28 of the Constitution, which guarantee personal liberty and provide safeguards for arrested persons.
“The issue of law in arresting suspects must be respected. We should do things in accordance with the law,” Kamuntu said.
He added that the Uganda Police Force would work with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and the Judiciary to expedite the trial of murder suspects.
He said the government would discourage what he described as unnecessary granting of police bonds and court bail, adding that emphasis would be placed on taking suspects to court for trial.
Kamuntu made the remarks while presenting a statement to Parliament on security incidents in selected districts and measures taken by government to address them during the plenary sitting on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.
He also announced plans to strengthen community policing, with every sub-county expected to have 18 police personnel, three motorcycles, a toll-free telephone line, intelligence-gathering capacity, community engagement and rapid response mechanisms.
“Murder hotspots, motives, victims and recurring crime patterns will be mapped and analysed. Crime statistics and a study of regional crime patterns will guide the deployment of personnel and resources,” he said.
According to Kamuntu, Uganda remains largely secure, although some isolated criminal incidents persist, largely driven by land conflicts, property and inheritance disputes, poverty, economic hardships, alcohol and drug abuse, criminal gangs and repeat offenders.
However, Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi welcomed the government’s commitment to ensuring that suspects are detained in gazetted facilities but challenged the minister to address cases of alleged illegal detention.
Ssenyonyi said some suspects were still being held in ungazetted detention facilities and called for their release or prosecution in accordance with the law.
“I want to believe that is a commitment he [the minister] is making, but he should begin by apologising because his statement acknowledges that some people have been detained in ungazetted detention facilities,” Ssenyonyi said.
The Shadow Minister of Internal Affairs, Denes Sekabira, also questioned the government’s commitment to strengthening community policing, citing inadequate funding for the programme.
Sekabira, a member of Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee, said the Inspector General of Police had informed the committee that government had allocated Shs50 billion for the programme against a projected requirement of Shs249 billion.
He said the funding shortfall exposed a significant gap between government’s security commitments and the resources available to implement them.
“I request the minister to provide the number of sub-counties that have fully operationalised this model,” Sekabira said.
Responding to concerns about funding, the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, said the Uganda Police Force was rationalising available resources to address the financial constraints.
“With the resources that we have, we are doing a mapping exercise to determine which areas need to be beefed up with police officers as soon as possible,” Kiwanuka said.
Meanwhile, Dan Atwijukire, the NRM MP for Kazo County, raised concerns about inadequate facilitation of community policing officers, particularly the poor maintenance of police motorcycles.
Atwijukire said many motorcycles had become grounded because of inadequate operational support, undermining efforts to prevent and respond to crime.
He also questioned the adequacy of the Shs50,000 monthly fuel facilitation provided to officers in charge of sub-counties.
“Most of the motorcycles were grounded. As we try to fight crime, we need to look into these issues of facilitating police officers,” he said.
