Police officer sues Kayihura
Former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- According to the ex-IGP’s account at the time, the purported resignation letter was an after-thought and ruse by Mr Mungasa to cover up his unearthed offences.
- In his plaint, the junior officer said Gen Kayihura’s sacking early this month has provided him an opportunity to file the suit.
Kampala. A police officer yesterday sued the former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, for blocking him from contesting as a Member of Parliament for Tingeyi Constituency in Kapchorwa District.
In a civil suit filed at the High Court, Mr Nelson Mungasa, who is presently deployed as the top detective at Bugolobi Police Station in Kampala, said he tried to resign in order to participate in elective politics, but the ex-IGP unilaterally stopped the process.
This action, the plaintiff contends, deprived him of an opportunity to serve his people by providing them political leadership.
“The defendants’ actions were unlawful, unconstitutional and amounted to abuse of office and the same were intended to deprive the plaintiff of his constitutional and fundamental rights to, inter alia, participate in the governance of his country,” Mr Mungasa states.
Ugandans went to the polls in February 2016 to elect a president, MPs and local government leaders.
The country’s electoral laws require civil servants to leave their jobs months before nomination.
Mr Mungasa said he had tried to act in fulfillment of the provision.
Citing personal and political reasons, the plaintiff said in 2015, he handed in his request to resign from Uganda Police Force to his then immediate supervisor at Jinja Road Police Station in the city.
Attempts blocked
Mr Mungasa said his application was unsuccessful because Gen Kayihura usurped the powers of the Police Council and unilaterally rejected his request.
He then petitioned police’s parent Internal Affairs ministry that wrote to Gen Kayihura to re-consider his decision, but the ex-police chief declined to budge.
Details of the plaint show that three years ago, Gen Kayihura informed the Electoral Commission that Mr Mungasa, contrary to his claims, had been illegally participating in politics before official discharge from the Force, thereby offending various sections of the Police Act.
According to the ex-IGP’s account at the time, the purported resignation letter was an after-thought and ruse by Mr Mungasa to cover up his unearthed offences.
In his plaint, the junior officer said Gen Kayihura’s sacking early this month has provided him an opportunity to file the suit.
