Police start massive cleanup of Force

Brutal. Police officers arrest one of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine’s, supporter at Kasangati Resort in Wakiso District during the by-election for Kyadondo East parliamentary seat last month. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.

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The exercise. Police chief Kale Kayihura, recently ordered the PSU to carry out screening of officers countrywide following President Museveni’s directive to clean up the police, which he said had been infiltrated by wrong elements.

Kampala. The Uganda Police Force has started a countrywide screening exercise that will see corrupt, lazy, incompetent and unfit officers kicked out of the Force.
The Uganda Police Force has 43,000 officers countrywide.
The screening, which started from police stations in Kampala Metropolitan Police area, has sent shivers across stations as hundreds of police officers were sent away and others placed under investigation by the Professional Standards Unit (PSU).

Some of the officers who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, claim that police managers are depending on allegations made in public meetings to kick them out of office.
Mr Vincent Ssekate, the PSU spokesman, said after weeding police stations around the city of wrong elements, the exercise will soon roll out to the rest of the country.

“Our teams have been at Wakiso Police Station, Mukono Police Station, Land Protection Police Unit and Katwe Police Station. We are focusing on mismanagement, illegal detention of suspects, extortion, corruption and non-performers. We are to audit all police stations in the country,” Mr Ssekate said yesterday.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen Kale Kayihura, recently ordered the PSU to carry out screening of officers countrywide following President Museveni’s directive to clean up the police, which he said had been infiltrated by wrong elements.

After the killing of former police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi in March, an infuriated President Museveni asked Gen Kayihura to “clean up his house”. He has since then lashed out at the Force for harbouring criminals within their ranks. The head-of-state has also variously accused the police of failing to conclusively investigate criminal cases.
“All these murders, I have followed myself. There are always clues leading to the criminals but the criminals have infiltrated the police,” President Museveni said at Kaweesi’s home in Kulambiro, a city suburb.

“You get a situation where they are intimidating the witnesses, killing the witnesses,” said Mr Museveni, before adding, “that is why the public fears to give information (about criminals) to the police.”
Kaweesi was gunned down by unknown gunmen who were reportedly riding on motorcycles commonly known as boda boda.
Mr Museveni singled out the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (CID), which he accused of bowing to the criminals, saying instead of arresting suspects, the officers arrest those volunteering information.

“The police have been infiltrated by criminals, especially the CID group,” Mr Museveni reiterated.
The President gave an example of a man in Rakai District whom he said had killed up to nine people but the police instead arrested those giving clues to the Force.

“Instead of arresting this man, the police arrested the informers,” he said.
Since then, the police management has been drawing several plans to clean the image of the institution.
Gen Kayihura started by establishing two committees. The first committee is investigating case backlog, while the other is focusing on mismanagement of criminal cases.

Police investigates less than 80 per cent of criminal cases, according to the police 2014 annual crime report.
The PSU is one of the units that have been empowered through increase in its finances, equipment and roles. The PSU funds are buried in the Command and Control budget, which is Shs53.567b this financial year.
The unit now carries out counter intelligence within the police in effort to clean up the Force.

Huge task
Despite the financial muscle and equipment, the unit is still thin on ground to screen all the 43,000 officers countrywide. The unit has less than 500 officers around the country.
Mr Ssekate said after screening at Katwe Police Station, officers in rooms seven and 14 were removed from office and sent to PSU for investigation. The officers were accused of offences ranging from extortion to mismanagement of cases.
“Some of the officers have been recommended to be taken back for refresher courses, while others have been reverted to general duties,” he said.
The screening will also target officers found to be physically unfit and alcohol addicts.

Two arrested

Meanwhile, the police Professional Standards Unit and the Flying Squad Unit have arrested two men who reportedly extorted $30,000 (Shs107m) from a Chinese businessman in Bwera, Kasese District pretending to be Flying Squad operatives investigating a criminal case against him. The men were arrested in Kampala City and they are to be transferred back to Bwera to face justice.