UGANDA POLICE COMMISSIONER DR FRED YIGA IS A DECENT MAN WHO DESERVES THE UN POST

Fred Yiga is a decent professional Police Officer who deserves and has struggled to get the new posting in United Nations. I wish him the very best given the new challenges. William Kituuka Kiwanuka Yiga was in Pennsylvania, USA where he pursued a PhD in Criminology. Fred Yiga came to limelight in the 1980s when he was Officer in-Charge of Traffic at Kampala Central Police Station. He worked to improve the image of the force through educational traffic programs on then Uganda Television now UBC-TV. Yiga also introduced the reflective triangle warning signs which have helped in reducing road accidents. Yiga has worked in various capacities in the police as Division Police Commander Old Kampala police station and Commissioner of Traffic in-Charge of Traffic and Road Safety. He was later appointed Commissioner of Police Human Resource Development, a position he held until he left for America two years ago for further studies. While in America he worked as an International Observer in Florida during the elections that brought President George Bush to power. Uganda Police Commissioner, Dr Fred Yiga, has been appointed the United Nations Commissioner of Police for South Sudan, becoming the first Ugandan police officer to hold the post. Dr Yiga, who has been the chief technical adviser for the South Sudan’s interior minister and inspector general of police, is now the fourth in the UN hierarchy in Juba. The police spokesperson, Mr Asuman Mugenyi, said the appointment was a test of the marketability of Ugandan police officers. “It is true he has been appointed in that position. This promotion has proved our critics wrong. We are now wondering whether Dr Yiga is from the heavenly police of the 1960s that Rhoda Kalema wrote about,” Mr Mugenyi said. Mr Mugenyi said Dr Yiga is among officers who have exhibited professionalism worldwide and are holding the Uganda flag high. “We have very marketable officers that have demonstrated in the UN mission. These include Elizabeth Kuteesa, who is in Interpol, and Mr Simeo Nsubuga (in South Sudan),” he said. In 1990s and 2000s, Dr Yiga was one of the most popular officers in the country because of his community policing strategy and his zero tolerance to corruption. abagala@ug.nationmedia.com Fred Yiga talks about his roles as UNDP Chief Technical Advisor to the Minister of internal Affairs; Inspector General of Police, Government of Southern Sudan Region:Sudan Field of Practice:Restorative Justice

I am currently working to help in building a functional police institution in South Sudan. Therefore much of my involvement is in meetings with government officials, supporting the establishment of police infrastructure, putting in place laws and regulations, designing codes of conduct, training curriculum, establishing regional/international linkages with other police forces; and oversight mechanisms to watch police behaviour and conduct. We have just finalized a community policing project proposal where we hope to engage the public and the police to understand each other and work towards community security. As part of the implementation process for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), one of our units, here in UNDP Southern Sudan, called “Access To Justice”, engaged the communities a great deal in drama, songs and paintings to pass on messages of post conflict social reconstruction. University and high school students participated in the performances. The unit also published simple easy- to- read materials. This has now ended, because the CPA has come to an end and we are waiting for the new republic of South Sudan, come July 9th, 2011. April 2006: Upon returning to Uganda, I returned to working with the police force, and I was promoted to director of information, public relations and protocol in the force. However, in June I was interviewed for the post of Technical Advisor to the Inspector General of Police, Southern Sudan. I passed the interviews for the Juba job and moved to Jube to begin working on the 1st of July. This is a UN posting, for the next 3 years. I am quite busy and the challenges are glaringly real. There are no systems in the law enforcement area, and my major task is to try and establish them. The police must be strongly founded to be able to hand the huge problem of the existing gaps in civil policing. We shall be designing community policing strategies to address the high levels of conflict that are almost cultural as a result of the long civil war here—over 25 years. Restorative justice programs will have to play a leading role in order to facilitate peaceful resolution of disputes and conflicts. There is a strong presence of traditional chiefs in this region of Southern Sudan, and we shall have to rely heavily on them to manage important issues like transitional justice. The local communities believe in them more than they believe in the police. Another role for these traditional chiefs is community disarmament. Communities in Southern Sudan were armed extensively, and this has been used as a means to settle all conflicts.