KAZO DISTRICT — Just after 2 a.m., on a quiet farm in Kazo District, two private security guards noticed something was wrong. A cow had been taken from the kraal. The night patrol had turned into a chase.
Paul Okongo and Samuel Lokodo, guards with Eagle Eye Security Agency, did what they were trained to do. They alerted their supervisors, notified the police, and followed the trail the thieves had taken into the darkness.
By morning, the cow had been recovered, suspects were in custody, and the guards had been offered Shs300,000 to look the other way.
They refused.
That decision, small in the moment but significant in a country where petty corruption often goes unpunished, has now earned them national recognition. On Tuesday, the Inspector General of Police, Abbas Byakagaba, awarded the two guards Shs500,000 each for rejecting the bribe and alerting authorities, an act police leaders described as a model of integrity and cooperation.
The cash reward was delivered on the IGP’s instructions by the chairperson of the Uganda Private Security Association, Grace Matsiko, at Kazo Police District Headquarters. The handover took place in the presence of district leaders, police commanders and intelligence officers who worked on the case.
“This was an incident of cattle theft where the two guards turned down an offer of a bribe and instead alerted police,” Matsiko said during the ceremony. “Police acted swiftly, arrested the suspects, and they are now facing prosecution.”
According to Matsiko, the IGP described the guards as “patriots who deserve a humble reward” and provided Shs1,000,000 to be shared between them.
“The reward underpins the cooperation between the Uganda Police Force and the private security sector in addressing crimes that undermine the socio-economic agenda of the country,” Matsiko added.
The theft itself was not unusual. Cattle rustling remains a persistent problem in parts of western Uganda, particularly in rural districts where farms are spread out and security coverage is thin. What stood out was the response — and the refusal to profit from silence.
Interviewed after the ceremony, Okongo retraced the events of that night.
“We were at the farm where we were guarding and got information that there was a plan to steal cattle,” he said. “Acting on that information, we alerted our supervisors.”
Not long after, the call came that a cow had already been taken.
“Our work is to guard and patrol during the day, but maintain vigilance at night,” Okongo said. “So we got out and chased the cattle thieves in the direction we were told they took.”
The pursuit forced the suspects to abandon the animal.
“After some long distance we encountered the thieves and they ran and abandoned the cattle,” he said. “In the meantime, we had alerted police and they were moving towards our direction.”
The guards handed the recovered cow to police and continued working with officers to trace the suspects. By morning, one of the men — apparently unaware that the theft had failed — returned to the farm.
“He came asking why the cow was not delivered to the butchery,” Okongo said.
That is when the situation took another turn.
“We immediately arrested him,” Okongo said. “But during the arrest, another person who was involved intervened and offered us Shs300,000 cash not to arrest him.”
They declined.
“We refused the bribe, arrested the two and handed them over to police,” he said.
For police and district leaders, that refusal carried weight far beyond the value of the money offered.
Resident District Commissioner Captain (retired) Yahaya Kakooza described the guards’ actions as “exceptional” and thanked the IGP for recognising them.
“The private security guards ignoring the bribe is exceptional,” Kakooza said. “The event today marks a golden day for us and is in line with His Excellency the President’s message about the foundation of security that has made Uganda stable.”
Kakooza linked the incident to broader security gains in the district.
“When the private security guards gave intelligence about the theft of cattle, they reported to police, which was alert,” he said. “The standby force moved in swiftly, and no wonder in the last six months crime rate in Kazo has gone down.”
He also called for recognition of the police officers who responded to the alert, noting that cooperation only works when all sides act quickly.
At the heart of Tuesday’s event was a wider message the police leadership is trying to send: that private security guards — often poorly paid and overlooked — are a critical part of Uganda’s security architecture.
Matsiko said the IGP described private security as a “force multiplier” and praised police in Kazo District, led by District Police Commander SSP Joseph Ndabimana, for working closely with private guards to arrest the suspects.
The ceremony brought together officials who rarely share the same platform: police officers, private security leaders, intelligence representatives, district administrators and local politicians. It was a deliberate show of unity.
For Okongo, the recognition was unexpected.
“I thank the IGP for recognising us in this effort,” he said. “It is a motivation, but also a call to all our colleagues that we need to be loyal to our bosses and our clients.”
In a system where corruption often feels routine and rewards for integrity are rare, the Shs500,000 each guard received was symbolic as much as practical. It signalled that refusal — saying no when it would be easier to accept — can still matter.
And in Kazo, at least, it sent a clear message: integrity at the lowest rung of the security ladder can still reach the very top.
