IGP, Poteri reconcile
Mr Ronald Poteri (R) celebrates at Buganda road court recently after the DPP dropped charges against him. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
Back to duty. The two old friends have chosen to forget their differences and work together.
Kampala. The Inspector Gen of Police, General Kale Kayihura, and the detective he suspended on allegations of theft of his tapes, have buried the hatchet and are friends again.
Mr Ronald Poteri was in April charged with being in possession of an official secret entrusted to him as a person holding an office of the government of Uganda. He was also accused of passing on this confidential information to persons not authorised to receive it.
The Director of Public Prosecutions later dropped the case.
In the past week alone, Gen Kayihura has invited Mr Poteri to a thanksgiving ceremony at police headquarters where the police chief thanked those who had helped him organise a marathon in his home district of Kisoro.
Mr Poteri told Daily Monitor his invitation by Gen Kayihura was a new beginning of a friendship.
“He is my boss and a good friend. He invited me here. Please tell the world that we are happy about this news,” Mr Poteri said.
He also escorted the police chief to Mayuge District after the shooting of a Muslim leader Sheikh Abdul Kadhir Muwaya last Thursday.
The drama after the leaking of the tapes, banning of journalists from covering the court case and renewed friendship puts more questions on whether his arrest was stage-managed or not to cool off the pressure on the police chief for losing vital intelligence.
Since the start of the case, Gen Kayihura declined to comment on it insisting that it was still before court.
Before his arrest, Mr Poteri was attached to the Political Desk of Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate.
It was alleged that he handed over of the 87 tapes of different persons interviewed in an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Gen Kayihura to Ms Jacqueline Mbabazi, the wife of former prime minister Amama Mbabazi.
Ms Mbabazi later revealed to the media how the recordings were of Gen Kayihura coaching youth to incriminate her husband as having ambitions to replace President Museveni in 2016 general elections.
The hatchet
Mr Robert Poteri who was attached to the Political Desk of the CIID is alleged to have handed over tape recordings of people interviewed by the IGP to Ms Jacqueline Mbabazi, wife to former prenier Amama Mbabazi who leaked them the the media to protect her husband.
