Good gesture for CID, DPP to work together

A fortnight ago, the offices of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) held their first-ever coordination meeting. This was in a bid to have more successful court convictions when prosecuting criminal cases around the country.

According to DPP Jane Frances Abodo and CID director Tom Magambo, criminals are getting more sophisticated, with some moving their activities to cyberspace.

With the evolving nature of crime, it is high time investigators and prosecutors jointly worked together to ensure effective measures for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of crime.

We welcome the new ways devised by the two bodies like strengthening coordination, cooperation, and collaboration through meetings at national and regional levels.

Likewise, we welcome the move for the two government bodies to have prosecution-guided investigations, a move aimed at preventing the bungling of cases in court where investigations are handled in a shabby manner.

With the new approach, the two bodies want with each step the police take in the investigations the prosecutors to guide on the same.

The need to have a fully functional justice law and order sector is important because it promotes the rule of law, and most importantly, it creates order in our society. The absence of it creates anarchy with disastrous consequences, including chasing away investors who increase our foreign direct investments.

Images such as the ones we recently witnessed of both Ugandans and foreigners being attacked in broad daylight by gangs on the streets of Kampala do not auger well for a country trying to attract investors.

If we have a working and effective justice system, where a case is handled efficiently and justice is served promptly and fairly, then foreign investors will get the confidence to invest here knowing that should there be any issue, the same will be resolved quickly.

Constitutionally, police is mandated to protect life, property, rights of the individuals, and to maintain security and order. However, the Force has faced serious challenges when doing criminal investigations, with many suspects freed in court due to lack of evidence.

We believe that the two organs working together is going to improve the quality of investigations, in the process, enabling the long arm of the law to catch up with the criminals.

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