Equipment worth Shs3.5b seized by police vanish

Managers of a company, whose Shs3.5b equipment used in manufacturing lubricants and candles went missing at the police station last year, have cried out to Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola to recover their property.

Mr Sowedi Lubega, the director of Victoria Candles Limited, said their machinery was seized by Kabalagala Police Station in September 2018 during an eviction from the building where they were renting in Muyenga, Kampala City.

“I have talked to different police officers, including their top legal officers without success to recover our equipment. We are losing business. Several workers lost jobs because the factory can’t operate without the equipment,” Mr Lubega said.

The seizure of the property followed land wrangles between a Kenyan national Zaddock Madiri and the owners of the structure Victoria Candles Ltd. During the eviction, the property of the candle company was also seized.

Mr Lubega said police officers loaded the equipment onto trucks after beating up workers. The workers were charged with criminal offences that were later dropped by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

In a June 25 letter by Mr Isaac Owona on behalf of the Inspector General of Police to the Kabalagala Division Police commander, he ordered handing back of the equipment “if it was in their possession”.

“….the complainants allege that their machinery and equipment were confiscated by officers within your area of operations during an eviction. This is to require that you have the machinery equipment complained of handed back to the complainant if it is in your possession and isn’t subject to any criminal investigations,” Mr Owona wrote in part.

Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said the equipment was seized by bailiffs not police.

“We only provided security during the eviction as per the court order. The court bailiff took everything. The complainants can complain again to High Court in regard to the bailiff taking their equipment,” Mr Onyango said yesterday.

Mr Lubega said everything was done by police since the purported court order about land eviction did not talk about seizing of property of tenants.

“I have a letter by police chief legal officer Erasmus Twaruhukwa. He wrote to Kampala Metropolitan Police commander stating that even the eviction was illegal and the police officers involved are being investigated by Police Professional Standards Unit,” he said.