Prosecution of officers in suspects death right move
Two suspects arrested in a police swoop in Kampala reportedly suffocated to death while in custody, this newspaper reported last week. Police have since come out to admit that one suspect, and not two, indeed died in custody.
From our report, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Mr Patrick Onyango, said the unknown person collapsed upon arrest, but breathed his last while being taken for treatment to Mulago National Referral Hospital. We could not independently verify this account.
This version of events contradicts one offered to this newspaper by another man, who said he was arrested the same night and witnessed three people, including his friend Deo Kabogere Ogong, suffocate to death inside a congested Clock Tower Police Cell.
The man who talked to this newspaper said there were no complaints against him by anyone when police arrested him. The manner in which police arrested the said suspects contradicts the Inspector General of Police, Mr Martins Okoth-Ochola’s, directives issued last year on how to handle and arrest suspects.
The IGP banned arrest of suspects without a complainant officially filing a case and that all arrests must be done with the full authorisation of the unit supervisors or commanders.
Although the Constitution gives police officers the right to arrest any suspected criminal, some security agencies have often misused the provision or not followed the right procedures while carrying out arrests.
Government data indicate that more than 34,000 Ugandans are detained briefly or remanded but many later prove their innocence after spending cold nights under unbearable conditions. The suspects, who died, reportedly in the custody, had dependents that now need to chart a new way of making ends meet.
The developments at the police facility in Kampala could just be a tip of the ice bag of what happens elsewhere. Unfortunate as it may be, we now demand that as the Judiciary system begins handling the case, every police officer involved in the arrest and torture of the suspects be held accountable and be subjected to the rightful prosecution procedures.
Also, forward-looking, if the police leadership subject the suspected officers to a fair and full trial, they will be killing two birds with one stone - discipline in the Force and restore public confidence in the institution.
