Internal Affairs Ministry receives COVID-19 PPEs.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), has handed over a Patrol-and-Rescue Boat and an assortment of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The donation is worth about USD 115,000 (UGX 408 Million) and has gone to the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC).

The equipment is intended to achieve an optimal usage for the benefit of the people in the country.

Among other PPEs given are Sanitizer bottles, Infra-red thermometers and batteries, gloves and masks, disinfectants and soap all meant to support DCIC to control the spread of COVID-19.

During a function held at the Ministry on Friday, the equipment was handed over by the IOM Uganda Chief of Mission, Sanusi Tejan Savage to the Director of Citizenship and Immigration Control, Maj Gen Apollo Kasiita Gowa.

“I am glad that today we are formally handing over that Patrol-and-Rescue boat. We are sure that with this equipment, the well-trained officers of DCIC will be better placed to make Uganda borders more secure,” Savage said.

He expressed need for more equipment and urged the receivers of the donation to put it to full utilisation.

“But as you know, COVID is still with us. Even as we urge every eligible person in Uganda to get vaccinated, we still need equipment and supplies for personal protection,” he noted.

Earlier this year in April, IOM handed over a boat and a vehicle to DCIC through the Regional Director, Mohammed Abdiker and had indicated that the second boat would be given thereafter.

The project under which this milestone has been realised is titled, “Strengthening Border Management to Mitigate Risk of Terrorism from Land and Maritime Borders in the context of COVID-19”.

The major components of this project are provision of specialised trainings and development of Standard operating Procedures for inter-agency data sharing and enhancement of critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks through the provision of maritime security equipment.

Under this project, a team of ten immigration officials were trained in document inspection and fraud detection who acquired skills to be able to cascade this training to other immigration officials in the country.

According to Maj. Gen Apollo Kasiita Gowa, the donation is part of the IOM border management project funded by the Government of Japan.

“This aims at supporting border management, including on water bodies such as Lake Albert,” Gowa said.

Japan is a longstanding funder for IOM’s border management initiatives Uganda. IOM handed over a patrol-and-rescue boat and a Pick-up vehicle to DCIC in April this year.

In 2017, IOM built Uganda’s first Immigration Training Academy in Nakasongola district.