Internal Affairs Ministry Budget Cuts Threaten Uganda’s Electoral Process, Minister Otafiire Warns.
NATIONAL: The Minister of Internal Affairs, Kahinda Otafiire has appealed to Parliament to guarantee that the UGX 475.712 Billion budget cut imposed on his Ministry and the agencies within be reinstated.
The Minister made the appeal while appearing before Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee on Thursday where he led the team from Uganda Police and Uganda Prisons Services to show their 2025/26 Budget Framework Paper.
Otafire also Member of Parliament (MP) for Ruhinda County, Mitooma District said that the reinstating of the funds will help to guarantee that Uganda holds free and fair elections in 2026.
Minister Otafiire also called for the provision for the maintenance of the national CCTV and implementation of the third phase of the project to cover the gaps in metropolitan Kampala.
“There is a need for periodic maintenance to improve the quality of CCTV footage, longevity and reduce down time of the installed cameras. The need to implement phase III of the CCTV project to fill the existing gaps within the Kampala metropolitan area and other areas across the country.” Said Min Otafiire.
In the same engagement Aggrey Wunyi, Under Secretary, Uganda Police Force requested Parliament for extra resources to recruit over 10,000 new Police officers, as it’s a need to fill the police to population ratio.
“We are 45 million Ugandan and the Police size is 47,952 which gives us a Police to population ratio of 1:958 and yet the recommended ratio is supposed to be 1: 500 persons. That is why we are asking for the recruitment of 10,000 Police Constables to bridge the gap.” Said Aggrey Wunyi.
In 2025/26 budget, Police has been allocated Shs895.222Bn which is a Shs227.799Bn reduction from the Shs1.123Trn allocated to the Force in the current FY 2024/25.
