NEWS RELEASE Monday, 13th January 2014 “Extradition treaties should be signed to combat crime” – President Museveni President Yoweri Museveni has called on the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs to work together in an effort to fight crime. “The signing of an extradition treaty is the way forward. You should follow the court system in the region”, he emphasized. The President made the call today at Paraa Safari Lodge in Murchison Falls National Park during the opening of the first Police Chiefs Retreat. The 2-day Retreat is being held under the theme “Challenges of Contemporary Policing in the Eastern Africa Region: Managing Violence and Cyber Crime.” The Retreat has attracted Police Chiefs from Eastern African region including host Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, the Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Seychelles. The President was responding to challenges of fighting criminals who cross borders posing as asylum seekers. He proposed the establishment of a regional center of excellence with the aim of handling issues such as forensic analysis and called for the move in this direction by starting with common facilities. He also agreed with the proposal to establish the African Police Organization. Mr. Museveni lambasted elements that are in the habit of promoting ideological bankruptcy in society. He strongly criticized some foreigners who want to impose issues on us saying that “they should leave us alone”. He condemned Cybercrime observing that some bad elements used it to spread bad messages in Northern Africa thereby causing insecurity. Addressing further the issue of insecurity, he said that an elected Government should be allowed to complete its term noting that the problems in Northern Africa are ideological whereby some people failed to take the interests of the masses as most important. He criticized acts of lynching people under sectarian grounds. He said that whoever promotes tribal tendencies is an enemy of the people. He added that such characters are parasites because they represent their personal interests. Regarding development in Africa, President Museveni said that the continent faced a number of strategic bottlenecks that have hampered its progress. He noted wrong definitions of challenges cannot allow the building of state institutions such as the Army, Police and Civil Service. He attributed failure to do this because some of leaders, in the performance of their roles, based themselves on tribal grounds not on merit. Mr. Museveni also observed that socio-economic conditions played a big role in national development. Citing Uganda as an example, he said the country had a population of 6 million at the time of independence compared to the current 37 million. He said that with such a big population, there is need to expand the economy and create employment opportunities. He, therefore, stressed the need to expand the tax base through provision of infrastructure and other essential services. He emphasized that factories cannot be promoted in Uganda if we do not have roads, rail and electricity supply adding that without such essential facilities, the cost of doing business would be high. The President observed that other issues that have obstructed development in Africa include underdevelopment of the human resource as well as a small internal market. He added that a small internal market blocks the growth of business saying that big numbers of people enable business opportunities to grow. He said a big market is a good foundation for a country to in place conditions conducive to investors. He expressed happiness that this was being addressed through the East African Community, COMESA and other trade blocs. State Minister for Internal Affairs, Mr. James Baba, revealed that with the exercise of the registration of Ugandans and foreigners in the pipeline, the country is bound to make long strides in fighting crime. The Secretary General of Interpol, Mr. Ernest Quatre, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr. Noburu Nakatani, said that Eastern Africa had recorded a high economic growth rate. He noted this had led to an increase in trans-national crime. He, however, gave assurances that Interpol was committed to make the world a safer place adding that the organization would strengthen the Police capacity in the region. The Inspector General of Police, General Kale Kayihura, saluted President Museveni for sparing time to address the retreat. He also thanked President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for accepting to address the gathering adding that the visit of the two Presidents was testimony of their commitment to fighting crime. The Kenya Inspector General of Police, Mr. David Kimayo, said that one of the major issues of the retreat was to address the recent wave of crime in the region. ENDS
Posted on: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:21:06 +0000
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