19 Police officers equipped with leadership skills

Uganda Police Force (UPF) has trained a total of 19 Senior Police officers with knowledge in leadership and management skills from Uganda Management Institute (UMI).

The course was closed by Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Godfrey Golooba, who is the Director Human Resource Development, at UMI on 30/11/2020.

He represented the Inspector General of Police, Martins Okoth Ochola.

Ochola extended his appreciation to the UMI Director General and the consultants of UMI for the job well-done of training police officers.

“Training is our main focus in building the police into a professional and competent force. It is of great pleasure that UMI has trained our senior officers to enhance their knowledge in leadership and management. The police had identified leadership skills as a gap at the management level,” he said

He added that the goal of training is to improve one’s ability, productivity and performance since it impacts on attitude or behaviour of the trainees, which is an important attribute in contemporary management.

The Inspector General of Police urged the officers to put into practice the knowledge obtained for the betterment of the institution and Ugandans at large.

“The Uganda government and police leadership have invested so much in skilling you. You are now considered able, productive. High performance is expected of you.” he added

He noted that the officers operate in a dynamic environment and with the training they have got, they should be in position to carry out their duties professionally.

He reminded the trained officers that untrained persons are a big burden in the Criminal Justice System, and all efforts are being done to ensure that all law enforcement personnel are imparted with skills required in modern times.

The Director General Uganda Management Institute James L. Nkata appreciated police management for choosing UMI in the training of its officers.

He said the cordial cooperation with police should continue.

According to the Senior Commissioner of Police Charles Birungi, who represented the trained officers, the course is one of its kind to be conducted for senior leadership in the police force.

“It is an indication of the strategic undertaking by leadership of the police to improve the managerial capacity of its officers, and it will ultimately improve the institution’s performance,” Nkata said

He appreciated the opportunity given to them to be the first to be considered for the course by the Inspector General of Police.

“Our appreciation and pay back to the UPF will be application of the knowledge, skills and behavioural change acquired from course to improve our individual outputs and organizational performance, and for this we pledge to do,” he said.

The course started in March 2020 and was scheduled to end mid-April 2020 but was disrupted by COVID-19 lockdown. It resumed on 3/11/2020 and ended on 25/11/2020.