I come to mourn the police, not AIGP Andrew Kaweesi

The meeting in the private boardroom of the Inspector General of Police was tagged ‘high level’. It was so ‘high level’ that police spokesperson Judith Nabakoba could only participate as an usher. There was the under secretary from the Ministry of International Affairs, IGP Kale Kayihura, AIGP Assan Kasingye, Kayihura’s Kenyan personal assistant and three other people the revelation of whose identities is not necessary now. I attended as a fly-on-the-wall.
My recollection is that ‘we’ (actually they) discussed the creation or activation of the Directorate of Information (or the elevation of Department of Information to a fully fledged directorate of the Uganda Police Force).
I ‘advised’ that the new directorate would be outside the command and control aspects of the Inspector General of Police. And would IGP Kale Kayihura like that? The under secretary picked it from there…

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Gen Jeje Odong, the minister for Internal Affairs, said he had not gone to Kitwekyanjovu (quite a name, is it not?) to burry or mourn AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi. He said he had gone to celebrate the life of AIGP Kaweesi. I join him in the celebration of Kaweesi’s life but I invite him to join me in mourning the Uganda Police Force.
The minister for Internal Affairs may hide behind the banal platitudes to fortify the bereaved so they can come to terms with the trauma of losing a loved one, but the Uganda Police Force which he politically superintends over is dead; and the bereaved are the citizens of Uganda. So, what will he tell Ugandans about the death of their beloved Uganda Police Force? That he has come to celebrate the life of the Uganda Police Force?
The difference between the death of the Force and that of AIGP Kaweesi is that the Force has the potential to resurrect this side of life. And AIGP Kaweesi has joined eternal life with no potential of returning to this madding world. Repose en Paix.

So, if one wants to celebrate Kaweesi’s life, he or she should just resurrect the Force. And one doesn’t need the Miracle at Calvary: just do the simple things like professional management of traffic. The problem with the police is not a PR challenge but the police management’s failure to post a professional attitude. PR can only solve public perception issues, not operational conduct (which is informed by attitude).
The conduct of the police demonstrates a failure to articulate the difference between insecurity and crime; a failure to reconcile the management of law and order and the citizen’s civil liberties; a failure to act above the fray of politics.
That’s the police for which AIGP Assan Kangye will speak and relate with the citizens of Uganda. Incidentally, the office of PRO has limited influence on administration and operational conduct. That is why I call on Ugandans to feel pity for AIGP Kasingye.

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I first met AIGP Kasngye at Uganda’s Embassy in Kigali on Avenue de la Paix in 1998 or thereabouts. The consular officer at Uganda’s Embassy had called me to come interact with senior Ugandan police officers who were in the country to train Rwandan Police. The carte de visite (business card) Kasingye gave me said he was the head of community Policing (or something like that) in the Uganda police. We never met again until the ‘high level’ meeting in IGP Kayihura’s chambers in 2010 or thereabouts.
Kasingye is now in the line of fire from two sides: the Uganda police and the Ugandan citizens. Did I say I feel pity…?

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of East African Flagpost.