Ochola’s six years as IGP

Mr Martins Okoth-Ochola wore a smile on his face as senior officers he supervised bid him farewell after ending six years as the Inspector General of Police at the police headquarters at Naguru, Kampala City, on March 5.

But Mr Ochola was returning to work after losing his father, Lawrence Okoth, on March 1. 

Mr Ochola, who handed over the Inspector General of Police office to his deputy, Maj Gen Geoffrey Katsigazi Tumusiime, postponed the burial of his father so that he didn’t overshoot the expiry of his contract by just a day.

In civilian life, Mr Ochola on March 4 returned to Mulanda in Tororo District for the burial of his father. 

“That is IGP’s lifestyle. He takes time and the office very seriously. He doesn’t use State resources for personal gains,” said a senior police officer, who has been close to Mr Ochola.

It was Mr Ochola’s principles on finances and discipline that President Museveni said he appointed him as the police chief on March 4, 2018, and he was tasked to enforce them in the police force.

“When I took over the steering of affairs of this great Institution at about this time exactly six years ago, the task was clear – to professionalise and rebuild the image of the force in line with its mandate,” Mr Ochola said at the handover.

Mr Ochola had replaced Gen Kale Kayihura, who had served for 13 years as IGP and attracted both enemies and a huge fan base in equal measure for his style of operation.

In his handover report, Mr Ochola painted a terrible picture of what he had to deal with  when he became IGP.

“I assumed office at the time when the Force had been infiltrated with some wrong elements that had usurped the powers, resources, operations and intelligence of the Institution,” he said. “Kidnaps, gun crime attacks on citizens and investors, civil disobedience and other violent crimes were rampant. There were constant complaints of human rights abuse, especially in some detention centres.”

After he took leadership, Mr Ochola removed or merged some of the directorates and units created by his predecessor to carry out parallel tasks.

The Director of Operations was given power over all units that deal with operational issues including Kampala Metropolitan Police while all independent units that were dealing with investigations were placed under the  Criminal Investigations Directorate.

Flying Squad Unit, which was accused of having officers who torture and extort money from their victims, was shut down.

Mr Ochola’s actions were welcomed by many human rights activists who even abbreviated his three names to create one word, OMO, and referred to him as a person who would clean the police. OMO is a detergent that is tough on stains.

Within the police, the personnel were happy to have a traditional police officer whom they saw as a person with an understanding of their issues after nearly 18 years of being led by military officers. 

Many police officers told this newspaper then that they expected their welfare and management to improve . 

The police budget also increased from Shs611b in the 2017/18 financial year to Shs975b in 2018/19.

However, much of the increment in the resources went to anti-crime projects like the installation of CCTV cameras and arming the Force to deal with the Opposition and civil society organisations that were active during the by-elections. 

His first test was in the Arua Municipality constituency by-election in August 2018 in which Yasiin Kawuma, the driver of Mr Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, was shot dead, his colleagues and journalists beaten. 

Mr Ochola went silent on the incident and later no suspects in the shooting or the beating were probed. 

Police officers were also not seeing the drastic reforms in their welfare from one of their own.

But during the Police Council in 2019, Mr Ochola opened up on why things were not moving as intended. 

He told President Museveni, who attended the council, about the need for more personnel, feeding of officers in operations, training of officers,  among other issues.

The incidents related to the 2021 elections, which was considered to be the most violent in Uganda in this century with more than 70 deaths due to gunshots by security personnel or those close to them, dented the police image again.

In November 2020 after the arrest of National Unity Platform leader Bobi wine in Luuka District more than 54 people died and hundreds of others injured.

Ochola’s father dies
The father of the outgoing Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola,

Lawrence Okoth, died last Friday. He died three days to the end of his son’s 36-year-old Police career. 
    
The Director of Police Human Resources, Brig Jesse Kamunanwire, announced the death of Mr Ochola’s father last week.
  
Yesterday, Mr Ochola handed over office before travelling to Tororo District for the preparation of the burial.

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