“I feel the Private Sector has the responsibility to work with local communities to reinforce the efforts of Police in the early detection and prevention of crime in the areas that we do business. If this event is as successful as expected, it may be replicated in many other towns in Uganda to improve intelligence gathering and ward off acts of terrorism,” Patrick Bitature, Chairman of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda said at the launch of the Ibanda Marathon held at Protea Hotel.
The marathon is slated for 28th February in Ibanda Town in Western Uganda and has attracted the chief runner the Inspector General of Police, Politicians, Civil Servants, Corporate Workers, and Local Community Leaders. The theme of the event is “Raising awareness of Community Policing”
The marathon is a national iniative that will be held all over the country and will finally be held in Kampala as the Private sector and the Uganda Police Force step up the awareness of Community policing to prevent crime and other sorts of dangerous situations.
The marathon will comprise of three circuits namely; 5km, 12km and 21km races which has attracted 2,000 participants, the event will be officiated by Uganda Athletics Federation.
“Crime prevention can be enforced with the help of the public and our local communities,” Assistant Inspector General of Police Asuman Mugenyi said. “We should not take this for granted we all have to be pro-active in our society to make sure that our societies and communities are safe for everybody.”
The event has attracted several Corporate sponsors that include; Crane Bank, MTN Uganda, Bank of Uganda, Century Bottling Company, Sadolin Paints, Stanbic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Orient Bank, Tiang Tan Group, New Vision, Pearl Diaries, Simba Telecom, Protea Hotels, LG and Techno.
Tickets for registration cost 10,000 shillings are being sold at all Simba Telecom outlets in Kampala proceeds will go towards local efforts in crime prevention by supporting the over 900 registered crime preventers in the community to out their activities in crime prevention.
Prizes to be won for the winners include a motor bike, flat screen TV with a home theatre, music system and several smart phones.