Police faulted for banning juice advert

Pastor Joseph Serwadda, the head of the Born-Again Pentecostal Faith in Uganda said this Sunday morning that the Police went overboard by ordering the ad off air.

Instead, he said, the Police should be working toward improving the welfare and working conditions of the Police officers.

Read: Pastor Serwadda tells churchgoers to ‘stop praying for President Museveni'

Police threatened last week to take action against Jesa Jus, for its advert which appeared to encourage bribing traffic police officers.

In the advert, a driver travelling with his family is pulled over by an officer. Fearing for consequences of the traffic stop, he pulls out a Jesa Jus and hands it to the officer who then proceeds to let him go.

“This kind of advertisement also promotes acts of bribery among children, which continues to reinforce the negative perceptions of children against police, which is not good,” said Police Spokesman Fred Enanga early this week.

However, Pastor Serwadda said that not all monetary or gift exchanges with Traffic Police can be described as bribery.

Serwadda said he has in some instances handed out cash to traffic officers out of sympathy or appreciation of their work.

He recalled one instance where he drove past a traffic officer who had been working during a hot afternoon and he handed him a Shs. 20,000 note to buy a drink.

The man of God encouraged the Uganda Police Force to provide better working conductions for their traffic officers.

“Traffic Police are the least catered for. They are not like their colleagues who can be hired for private security to get an extra income. They are never served food from their bases, and they never get protection gear from extreme weather,” he said.

“All they do is collect money and pass and pass it on to the government but they never have a test for this money.”