IGG probes 200 police cadets over forged academic papers
What you need to know:
- Corruption. The officers, who are said to have forged primary and secondary papers, were allegedly favoured in recruitment and quickly promoted after the pass out at the expense of long serving officers with genuine papers.
The Inspectorate of Government is investigating a case involving hundreds of police cadets who are suspected to have used forged academic papers to access jobs.
Farouk Kayongo, a public relations officer at the Inspector General of Government (IGG) told Saturday Monitor that the investigations into the accusations of duplicity of the 200 police cadets is in the final stages but declined to divulge any more information except that “the report is due to be released soon.”
Police sources believe the IGG investigations were propelled by the new Inspector General of Police, Mr Martin Okoth Ochola, who is apparently inclined to clean up the police after the departure of his former boss, Gen Kale Kayihura.
The IGG official was however, quick to say: “These investigations have nothing to do with the changes in the police leadership at all…as a matter of fact, we started the probe during [Gen Kale] Kayihura’s tenure, after we got a tip from a whistleblower on the matter.”
Last year, this newspaper reported that the IGG, Ms Irene Mulyagonja, had summoned 200 police officers at the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASPs) over forged documents. The officers joined force in the 2015/2016 and 2014/2015 financial years.
Police source told Saturday Monitor that most of the cadets have since risen through the ranks at the expense of officers with genuine academic qualifications.
One of the disgruntled police officers, who requested not to be named because she/he is not allowed to speak to the press, complained that she/he had been forced to salute “boys and girls” who entered the force with suspected fake documents.
The officers, sources described as “favoured blue-eyed boys and girls”, have been promoted without scrutinising their papers. This newspaper also understands that another group of unidentified police officers petitioned IGG to investigate the suspected rot in police recruitment.
When contacted to comment on the IGG investigations, the police spokesperson, Mr Emilian Kayima, said: “If the IGG is investigating a matter, how can I comment on it? They are the ones doing the investigations, not the police. So, talk to them.”
Sources said most of the suspected police cadets forged Primary Leaving Examination and Uganda Certificate of Education academic papers. Others used documents of their deceased relatives.
