Africa-Press – Uganda. People, especially those travelling to Middle East countries, seeking letters of good conduct and other services from police will apply and book appointments online starting May 3.
This follows several allegations of corruption as a huge number of applicants visit the Directorate of Interpol offices at Kololo in Kampala City. Police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, said online applications and booking of appointments will solve congestion and also ensure transparency in their operations.
“It will solve delays that have been there in getting police clearances. It will also reduce errors and double entries while processing applications. It will reduce the paperwork,” Mr Enanga said yesterday.
Most local and foreign employers require letters of good conduct and police clearances from employees.
A letter of good conduct is a document that the police issues to a person indicating that they have no criminal record. The letter expires after six months.The directorate of Interpol has processed 36,000 applications since January. This is 5,000 more applications than they worked on last year. Labour exporting companies are their major clients. Last year, the police collected Shs3.9b revenue from letters of good conduct.
Mr Enanga said the huge crowds at their offices during the coronavirus pandemic were an eye opener. The new system is expected to reduce forgery through creating bar codes and other security features. The online application will not be different from that of the immigration department.
The process
The applicant will log on the police website and go to the service log where he or she will access an application form. Thereafter, the applicant will pay fees in the bank or electronically to the accounts shared on the platform.
Police officers will send the applicant an appointment date when he or she will bring passport photographs and their fingerprints captured. Mr Enanga said the police will then carry out analysis of the applicant’s documents and will share the results within seven days.
