Crime Preventer Jailed over Illegal Possession of Handcuffs
Buganda Road Magistrates’ Court has remanded Francis Nayebare, one of the former commanders of the National Crime Preventers Forum to prison on charges of illegal possession of government stores.
It is alleged that between April 5 – 6, 2020, Nayebare was found in possession of a pair of handcuffs and metallic baton belonging to the Uganda Police Force.
He is also charged with being in possession of 262 roles of Cannabis which are prohibited under the Penal Code Act.
In court, Nayebare pleaded not guilty to the charges arguing that it’s the Police that gave him the metallic baton and the handcuffs as a former commander of the crime preventers forum.
The baton and handcuffs were reportedly recovered from Room 6 at Eden Inn when a search was conducted in his absence.
The National Crime Preventers Forum is the umbrella body of the crime preventers; a paramilitary group was formed in the run-up to the 2016 general elections to promote community policing in Uganda in partnership with Uganda Police Force.
The then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gen Kale Kayihura oversaw their recruitment and training.
However, the group received a lot of criticism from the public and Police on allegations that they had promoted crime instead of preventing the same.
Weeks after Kayihura was sacked as IGP in March 2018, President Yoweri Museveni met some of the group’s members at Lugogo Indoor Stadium in Kampala and declared them to be part of the country’s reserve force under the command of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF).
Nayebare has been remanded to Kitalya Government Prison until May 7th, 2020.
