Police ask Nantaba to make new statement

Complainant. Ms Idah Nantaba

What you need to know:

  • The then Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, whom President Museveni fired early last year after publicly scolding him that the force he superintended had been infiltrated by “criminal elements”, blamed the high-profile killings on ADF elements.

Kampala. Police have asked the State Minister for ICT, Ms Idah Nantaba, to allow detectives record a new statement days after she made allegations that State agents are baying for her blood.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said the first statement that Ms Nantaba made was her own narrative, which was not subjected to qualified detectives’ queries.

“We want to encourage her to allow our team to get a detailed account of what happened on that day,” Mr Enanga said yesterday.
Addressing a congregation at Bukolooto Seventh Day Adventist Church in Kayunga Town at the weekend, Ms Nantaba claimed that Ronald Ssebulime, who was killed extra-judicially by police officers on allegations of trailing her, was armed and had intentions to kill her.

She also alleged that a police officer, Cpl Edward Ssali, was called on mobile phone by a state agent who ordered him to kill Ssebulime to stop him from leaking information about the alleged assassination scheme against her.
Ms Nantaba said the “truth is that the killers are within security and government.”

The masterminds, she said, are highly-placed government and security officials who are “untouchable,” a reference in Uganda’s politics to individuals in the top circles of government and state.
But Mr Enanga said Ms Nantaba has not reported to police any threat against her life or that Ssebulime was a victim of the assassination scheme.

“It is unfortunate that she is talking about threats in her life in the media. Let her come out and make these threats in writing,” he said.

After the shooting of Ssebulime, the CID director summoned Ms Nantaba to record a statement, but she declined, saying President Museveni had ordered her not to leave her home.
She later wrote her own narrative of the incident, which she sent to police.

Mr Enanga said call data on the mobile phones of the accused officer were retrieved and don’t support Ms Nantaba’s allegations that there is a superior officer who ordered him to kill Ssebulime.
“It was a case of mistaken identity. If she isn’t comfortable with the police, she can engage other security agencies to investigate,” he said.

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The then Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, whom President Museveni fired early last year after publicly scolding him that the force he superintended had been infiltrated by “criminal elements”, blamed the high-profile killings on ADF elements.

He did not provided evidence, and minister Nantaba on the weekend punched holes in the allegations.

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