Museveni should sort police before things get out of hand

Abdullah Kitatta was arrested by UPDF’s Military Police. Most people thought he was arrested in an operation conducted by the UPDF’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).
We don’t know whether Lt Gen Tumukunde was compelled to speak because of his Cabinet portfolio; but he sounded unministerial when he mocked what he called Abdullah Kitatta’s god fathers to come and rescue him.
But if Kitatta’s arrest was conducted by the UPDF’s Military Police (under the operational command of the CMI), why was Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde basking in the limelight of an institution formally outside his ministerial docket? And even speaking out of turn?
In my shrine in Kiburara, the gods have told me that Kitatta’s arrest by the UPDF’s Military Police was not under the operational command of the UPDF’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence. Kitatta’s arrest was not ordered by CMI. The gods told me that the operation leading to the arrest of Kitatta ‘et al’ was conducted by the Internal Security Organisation (which is under the ministerial supervision of Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde).
So, did Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde order Internal Security Organisation (ISO) to arrest Kitatta? ‘Unfortunately or fortunately, no,’ the gods said Lt Gen Tumukunde did not order ISO to arrest Kitatta. Neither did ISO file the intelligence briefing that led to the issuance of the order of the arrest. It came from another intelligence service.
The order for Kitatta’s arrest came from as high up as the eyes can reach. That order was not even delivered through the minister for security. And so…? In my shrine, the gods summed it thus: One warrior prince is just taking advantage of the awkward situation another warrior prince finds himself in after ‘Operation Romeo Whisky’ conducted by another intelligence service. Please don’t google the words ‘Romeo’ and ‘Whisky’. It is a creation of my fecund imagination.
Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, police arrested ASP Mohammad Kirumira, the Buyende District police commander . The previous day, the young and celebrity DPC had accused police authorities of being corrupt and called on the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to disband the police.
I protested ASP Kirumira’s outburst in a Facebook post. Following the Facebook thread, Kirumira enjoys public sympathy; and I associate with that public sympathy. But my experience is that it is not advisable to take on an institution (worst of all an armed one) in the manner that Kirumira did. ASP Kirumira is not the first officer to have issues with an institution that he works in. Who still remembers Capt Joseph Kamusiime of Joint Anti Terrorise Taskforce? He was accused of corruption and impropriety. But those who knew him say he was the most hardworking person at JATT. He played it cool and slid into near-anonymity.
If Capt Kamusiime had acted like Kirumira, the institution would have brought all its ugly and brutal power to bear on him. Any attempt to take on an institution exposes one to the brutal and poisonous fangs of that institution. That’s my experience.
On this note, I call on Mr Museveni to sort the mess in the Uganda Police Force. Under its current form and leadership, the Uganda Police Force cannot carry on her constitutional mandate. However, even firing the top leadership of the Uganda Police Force would not be the best solution.
I suggest that we should institute an independent judicial commission of inquiry into the operation, administrative management, command and control of the Uganda Police Force. This commission should be headed by a non-Ugandan citizen from one of the African members of the Commonwealth.

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of East African Flagpost.