SPC shot with Bebe Cool struggles to live another day

Mr Oloka is the Special Police Constable allegedly shot by a colleague together with musician Moses Ssali, better known by Bebe Cool.

Kampala

With his left leg suspended in the air, a poignant look from his mother, Christine Apolot, underlines David Oloka’s desolation. Mr Oloka is the Special Police Constable allegedly shot by a colleague together with musician Moses Ssali, better known by Bebe Cool.

Varied accounts
The circumstances and accounts of the January 30 shooting near the Centenary Park in Kampala may still be varied and contested – but not the pangs and suffering of the victims.

Bebe Cool, who was shot multiple times in both thighs, limped out of Nsambya Hospital on Saturday. His injured three minders; Kabyobya Abbas (a.k.a. Cobra), Allan Masengere also known by the alias Short Cut and Godfrey Kayiza, are recuperating - but agonisingly slowly.

For SPC Oloka, its double tragedy. He was felled with two bullets and has been abandoned by his employer. In accounts Mr Oloka offered in an interview with Daily Monitor on Saturday, all the Police Force did was to pick and haul him to Mulago Hospital on a patrol vehicle.

Life afterwards has been a struggle and feeding is fast turning into a gamble with each passing day. “I have been left to suffer alone here,” Mr Oluka says with self-pity and fighting back tears on his bed in Ward 2A.

He added: “I had to buy these ropes that were used to lift my injured leg up; it was supposed to be raised mid last week but the hospital didn’t have any ropes! So, I had to buy them.” Suddenly, a wind blows and the casualty ward fills with a foul smell that suffocates and annoys but SPC Oloka says his survival is because of “friends and family”.

Deplorable welfare
The deplorable welfare of most unranked Ugandan Police personnel is not news; the lucky are accommodated in substandard houses, often in congested barracks. And their monthly pay is anything between Shs150, 000 and 200, 000. After serving for three years, Oloka expected better treatment from his employers in such times of need.

Instead, outpouring public and government sympathy is only for Bebe Cool. President Museveni visited the musician at Nsambya Hospital on Thursday night and offered that State House will pick his medical bills (alongside that of his three minders) and the President’s personal doctors will henceforth supervise their treatment.

Earlier, the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, dashed to the medical facility and apologised to Bebe Cool even when detectives are yet to ascertain who was in the wrong. The empathy and generosity of the Police chief has, for now, eluded SPC Oloka who lives in the hope he will be recognised a “hero” since he was shot on duty and as he tried to restrain his colleague now detained as a prime suspect from firing.

The gods appeared to be smiling on him on Saturday. Bebe Cool upon discharge from Nsambya Hospital dashed straight to commiserate with him at Mulago Hospital and reportedly dropped some cash for his use.

Help underway
Now Police Spokesperson Judith Nabakooba says help is on its way for the SPC whose two children and two brothers could not report to school for first term which opened last week due to lack of fees.
“His (Oloka’s) family will be taken care of by the Police beginning with food provision every day and we shall pick the medical bills too,” Ms Nabakooba said. Mr Oloka’s desperation is overwhelming. For now, he is but just the Force’s casualty statistic.