KAMPALA: Pastoralists of Kalagala in Wakyato Sub-county Nakaseke district are excited over getting a police post because they are optimistic it will reduce incidents of animal thefts in the area.
The locals say they have been enduring sleepless nights protecting their cattle, which have for long been targeted by thieves.
Diriisa Ssozi, one of the residents, said that they have for a long time cried to Nakaseke police commandants for a police post in the area until the Division Police Commander of Nakaseke district, Ben Nuwamanya, commissioned it on Friday.
Wilberforce Ahebwa said that residents have been moving 35 km to Kiwoko to get police services and 10 kilometers to Kangwajje, where there is another police post.
He also said that the area has a cattle market and the thieves would hijack residents who have sold their cows in the market and rob them, saying the need for a police post was paramount.
Ernest Ssendawula, the LC 1 chairman of Kalagala, said that the nearest police were 10 kilometers away and they could not serve them properly, which led to the need to have a police post in the area.
Ben Nuwamanya, the DPC of Nakaseke, deployed six policemen under the command of Charles Ocire as the officer in charge of the post. The police are to be operating in rented premises belonging to John Ssegirinya, and he encourages the local community to buy land where they can build a permanent police post to serve them.
Nuwamanya cautioned the deployed officers against extortion from people who go for police services, saying that police services should be free.