Applicants for police recruitment in Oyam turned away due to lack qualifications

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Eighty-three percent of the people who presented themselves for recruitment into the Uganda Police Force as Probationary Police Constables (PPCs) in Oyam district were found to be too old or too under-educated for the police training. Some didn’t even have National Identity Cards and presented the risk of recruiting foreigners into the national armed forces.

A total of 871 applicants out of 1,045 were thus turned away.

The exercise that commenced on November, 5th, from Oyam district is expected to be extended to other districts in Lango until November, 20th this year.

The exercise is part of the plan of recruiting 50,000 Special Police Constables -SPCs across the country to be on duty at the polling centers.

According to the police recruitment guide, an applicant for the position of probation police constable should be aged between 18 and 25, physically fit and possesses at least five credits in English and Mathematics from a single sitting at Ordinary Level.

James Ekaju, the North Kyoga Regional Police Spokesperson says out of 1,045 applicants in Oyam, only 174 candidates were shortlisted while a whopping 871 were disqualified.

He said that majority of the applicants were disqualified on grounds of advanced age, lack of requisite academic requirements, lack of National Identity Cards and forgery.

Grace Musoke Nababi, the Oyam District Police Commander says the turn up was good and formal interview is underway. She believes recruiting the personnel will boost the current police force numbers to maintain law and order.

The North Kyoga Regional Police Commander Paul Nkore says applicants who made it to the last stage of the recruitment exercise will be selected from the police headquarters in Kampala before the final results are released in two weeks.

He however noted that only 198 people will be selected in the entire Lango sub-region as police constables.

The 50,000 police constables to be recruited countrywide is part of police recruitment plan of 10,000 constables to replace those that deserted, retired or got incapacitated by various illnesses.

The successful applicants will be earning 370,000 shillings per month and they will serve before, during and after the general election exercise according to Fred Enanga, the Uganda Police Force Spokesperson.

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