Ochola must do more than shut Nalufenya

The closure of the dreaded Nalufenya police detention and torture centre has triggered excitement and jubilation by the area residents.
This followed the announcement last week by the Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola that he had ordered closure of Nalufenya, which has had an infamous reputation as a torture chamber for high-profile suspects, mainly Opposition politicians arrested for expressing their opinions, mobilising or challenging the State at public gatherings.
The Nalufenya shutdown and conversion into a normal police station is a good move by the new police leadership under Ochola and deserves praise. However, this alone does not mean torture and other inhuman treatment that had been committed at Nalufenya cannot or will not be carried out elsewhere.
Police have been persistently named in various research reports as one of the top offenders of human rights in the country and the abuses have not only been committed at Nalufenya, but across the country.
The report by Human Rights Network for Journalists, which shows the press freedom index in Uganda in 2017, has named police as the top tormentor of journalists in the country, being implicated in 83 out of 113 reported cases. The excitement or jubilation about closure of Nalufenya is thus dampened by these incriminating unpleasant findings.
This notoriety is what the new police leadership must squarely address themselves to, beginning with, but not limiting it to just the closure of Nalufenya.
It is even more pertinent that the incriminating report on police brutality against journalists comes at a time the world is gathering to celebrate Press Freedom Day today. The police must look into own self and change its conduct towards not only journalists, but the general public that expect professionalism and better service from the Force that is mandated to protect life of person and property.
Today’s celebrations of World Press Freedom Day should be a strong reminder to the police and other State agencies or authorities that freedom of the press is freedom of society. A country without press freedom cannot have free people. In the foregoing, the jubilation on the closure of Nalufenya torture centre will be short-lived, though it can be permanent if the new police leadership changes their methods of work and begin to be perceived as the people’s Force.
To achieve that, Ochola and his command must purge the Force of the rotten apples that perpetrate and perpetuate brutality and other forms of human rights abuses against the population. We hope to see more changes towards reshaping the police beyond physical closure of Nalufenya. It will be victory for the police, the government and the country.

The issue: Nalufenya closure
Our view: We hope to see more changes towards reshaping the police beyond physical closure of Nalufenya. It will be victory for the police, the government and the country.