Police’s female armoured vehicle driver

Sgt Brenda Akite on duty. She is a truck and armoured personnel carrier driver with the Uganda Police Force. PHOTO BY JOSEPH KATO

What you need to know:

  • She was selected as the first police female representative in Somalia.
  • She says she has no reason to get married again since she can provide for herself.
  • She would not recommend her type of job to her children.

Sgt Brenda Akite is one of a handful of women who drive trucks and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) for the armed forces. This, she attributes to determination, patience and discipline.
Road users especially men cannot hide their fascination and respect. They compliment and salute her with phrases such as, “Afande Jambo,” (good day Afande) “Afande Suulayo,” probably excited by her driving skills.
When you are in a truck she is manning, you will be impressed by how skillfully she manoeuvres through the congested roads. Along the way, she shares interesting, touching and scary experiences gathered from the long routes she has driven on highways and deep in the village.

Akite’s driving career started in 2008 when she enrolled for a driving course at Kibuli Police Driving school. She had just returned from Masindi Police Training School where she had been posted as a trainer.
“I always wondered and admired men driving these cars. I told myself that I can do it. I started getting some basic driving skills. I went to the driving school when I had already got some skills,” she says.
To appreciate Akite’s achievement, you need to first understand her background. She was born on December 25, 1979 in Alebtong district. She completed her Primary Seven at Omuca Primary School, went to Omuca Secondary but later shifted to Adwori Secondary School in Lira Town when Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ravaged villages in which dozens were killed.

Police course
Since she had lost her father and her mother could not afford to educate her further, she joined Uganda Police. She did this purposely to get money to help her mother and siblings.
Right from childhood, Akite admired traffic officers because of their uniform and authority to stop any vehicle. And when she joined the Police Force in 1998, she was optimistic that she would work in the traffic department.
Unfortunately, luck was not on her side and she was deployed at Naggalama Police Station as a general police officer.
“I felt bad when I was not deployed in traffic police. But I had to obey orders because I had already become a police officer. I accepted and moved on,” she shares.
During training, Akite often thought of escaping but she was held back by Masindi’s confusing routes in addition to stories of night dancers and man eaters in the district. She says the training was tough for all recruits.
While at Naggalama Police Station in Mukono, Akite was deployed at Namagunga Secondary School as a guard from 1999 to 2000 and later moved to Mukono Police station under Field Force Unit.
She was excited by the transfer to Mukono Police Station because it brought her close to her boyfriend who later became her husband until they separated in 2011.
Four years later, Akite was deployed at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)’s anti-smuggling department up to 2007. In the same year, she was sent to train recruits at police training school in Kabalye, Masindi District.

Enroute to a driving qualification
When recruits were passed out, Akite returned to Kampala and enrolled for a driving course at Kibuli Police Driving School. As soon as she completed her driving course, she got wind of United Nations mission jobs for which experienced police officers were needed to train the Somali national police force. A driving certificate was among the major requirements.
She was selected as the first police female representative in Somalia. Before embarking on foreign duty in Somalia, she underwent training in Kenya. The training was majorly on self-defence and driving skills.
On her arrival in Somalia, she was surprised by the way female Somali soldiers drove trucks and tanks. The curious Akite approached a female army truck driver and asked to be trained. Since she had the basic driving skills, it took her three days to learn about trucks.

Akite, whose main role was to design a training curriculum for Somali female police officers, surprised her UN supervisors when they saw her driving trucks and she was allocated one. “In Somalia, I started with a Land Cruiser and was later given a truck. I used every opportunity I could get to acquire more driving skills. By the time I came back in 2011, I was already an experienced driver,” she says.
For Akite, Somalia was an interesting tour of duty in a country where the sound of gun shots was like the daily meal. She says it was almost impossible to spend a month without hearing or witnessing an explosion where dozens of people would be killed and/or injured but that did not scare her.
On her return from Somalia, Akite went for an advanced driving course at Kibuli Police Driving school. She was later deployed as lead car driver.
In 2013, police authorities deployed her at Nsambya transport pool as a data entrant. This gave her access to vehicles which she often drove and widened her skills. To achieve her dream of being a recognised and professional truck driver, she returned to the police driving school and acquired a lorry driving license. “I was sent to IOV [vehicle inspectorate office] to test my truck driving skills. It was just a walkover. I was given the permit without any doubt and I have never looked back,” she states.

Challenges
Driving trucks has not been all rosy for Akite as she spends days on the road transporting officers and equipment. Sometimes, she spends nights stuck on the road and in jungles as a result of tyre punctures or bad roads.
Her worst experience was last year when she transported the body of a deceased police officer to Kagadi District and she got stuck alone 40km from the main town with no telephone network.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Elem Kizito, Fleet Management Officer, acknowledges that Akite encounters challenges in her long distance journeys but she has never complained. Kizito adds: “Whether it is night or day time, call Akite she will do your job much as she gets challenges on the way. She likes her job and above all she is a disciplined and respectful person.”
Akite says her job involves a lot of digging, a reason she moves with a hoe, panga and spade purposely to set tyres free from mud. Due to the nature of her job, Akite does not have weekends, time for leisure or off days. “This job does not have day or night time. You must be ready to respond to any assignment even if it is past midnight,” she adds.
She dislikes carrying female passengers because they do not help her out when the truck gets stuck. She says women just sit down and look at her as she digs up tyres from mud. “Women just sit and look at you. They engage in conversations or breast feed their children as you suffer with mud,” she says.

Grateful for a livelihood
Akite also drives armoured personnel carriers, tanks, buses and graders. Much as her job is filled with challenges, she is proud of it because it has helped her build a home, look after her mother, children and siblings. “I do not know where I would be if I had not learnt how to drive. My children’s father abandoned them but there is not a single day they have missed school due to lack of school fees. I have educated my siblings. They are in secondary schools while others are at university,” she says proudly.
The 39-year-old applauds the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura and her immediate supervisors for believing in her, and for the guidance and encouragement they accord to her. “I feel excited when IGP meets me and appreciates my work. My supervisors believe in me. I thank God who has made me recognised in a job dominated by men,” she says.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Prossy Achola, Akite’s supervisor, describes her as an iron lady because of her determination to do anything within her means. “She is a person you call for an assignment and she tells you to give her few minutes to reach you. She does not disappoint. She does not complain,” Achola says.

Akite who is at the highest rank among the force drivers adds that her job may not be the best but it has taken her places such as Somalia and Kenya. Asked what her children think of her job, Akite says they used to complain at the start but they have since got used. “They would feel bad whenever I was assigned late in the night. I sat them down and explained why this job is gold for our survival and they understood,” she says.
However, Akite would not recommend her type of job to her children. She prefers for them to become graduate as doctors, lawyers or business personalities. “It depends on their wishes because I cannot dictate for them. But I would not want any of them to become police officers. We need to try other jobs,” she adds.
On whether she plans on dating again, Akite says men are a closed chapter in her life. She says she has no reason to get married again since she can provide for her children. “ If the man I loved in my youth disappointed me, what of that one I will get when I am about to clock 40. What new things will he bring in my life which I cannot get myself? Men no longer have space in my life,” she says.
Her advice to women is to work hard so that they can lead an independent life. According to her, women should see men as a supplement when they already have their independent source of income. She does not believe in excuses such as “husband abandoned me. I cannot look after my child’’.
Akite adds that she has started planning for her retirement and is investing to sustain herself when she calls it quits.

women in similar roles
Maymouna Kahindo: She was a mechanic but also the driver of commanding officer of women affairs in the Ugandan Contingent in Somalia, Major Jane Mukasa. When she first arrived in Mogadishu, she was a driver of low loaders (trucks that carry vehicles) at Mogadishu National Stadium, one of the places used by the al-Shabaab as a tactical base before they were flushed out by the Ugandan peacekeepers. Her job was to transport damaged vehicles on the loader to the garages. As the attacks intensified though, her role changed, thrusting her closer to the frontline. She now had to block the insurgents out of the stadium with the low loaders at the main entrance. Before her deployment in Somalia, Kahindo knew nothing about mechanics but she could drive.

Private Rebecca Nakiwunga, the tank driver: She was the first female tank driver in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces and participated in the attack on Afgooye town, which was the stronghold of al-Shabaab.