By Otim Nape
President Museveni has directed the new Police Deputy IGP Brig Mzee Sabiiti to expeditiously investigate and write for him a report comprehensively documenting all controversial activities undertaken by the Blaise Kamugisha-led crime preventers during the reign of former IGP Gen Kale Kayihura. Reliable State House sources have revealed to this news website that Sabiiti’s first major assignment is going to be looking into a number of things that the big man believes went wrong during the days of Gen Kayihura in the Uganda Police Force (UPF). The areas to be investigated include the crime preventers’ curious transactions with the UPF that are said to have been personally directed by Gen Kayihura. Brig Sabiiti will be interacting with disgruntled police officers and would-be service providers who claim to have been undermined and victimized by crime preventers who wielded lots of power because of the unlimited direct access they had to Gen Kayihura. Sabiiti will be out verifying claims that the crime preventers’ national leaders used this privileged position to enrich themselves while scooping lucrative police contracts. Reliable sources say Sabiiti will be highlighting for the big man the circumstances under which the National Crime Preventers Forum (NCPF) was contracted to supply food stuffs to the UPF at the expense of other more experienced and tested service providers. How competitive was the process? Is it true the supply price per unit at which NCPF supplied was higher than the usual one? If yes who were the beneficiaries and is it true this price inflation created a difference (enjawulo) for some officials at Naguru? “These are allegations Mzee has been hearing and Sabiiti’s job will be to establish the extent to which these are true or are they mere allegations meant to demonize the NCPF,” an influential SFC officer close to Brig Sabiiti told this news website. At the time Gen Kayihura ceased being IGP, the UPF was owing NCPF Shs33bn in unpaid food supplies. Museveni wants Brig Sabiiti to investigate and see the extent to which this claim was exaggerated if at all. This Shs33bn is only on food supplies not including the several other monies crime preventers are supposed to be paid for the work they did and continue to do on the construction of the police housing units at Naguru. There is also the motorcycle scheme whereby critics say Gen Kayihura procured 100s of motorcycles to enhance crime prevention in the country. They were given to crime preventers some of whom allegedly turned them into personal property and never used them to do police work and thereby occasioning financial loss to the GoU. This is another area Museveni wants Brig Sabiiti to comprehensively investigate and quantify for him how much money was lost in this abused motorcycle scheme.
POLICE BOSSES’ RICHES:
Museveni also expects Sabiiti to comprehensively look into the vast properties-mostly houses, fat bank accounts and vast land-many of the Kayihura era senior police officers accumulated clearly not matching their salary that averages to Shs2.5m per month. Some officers are said to own taxis, buses and Fuso lorries which are even never subjected to traffic rules governing other motorists. Museveni wants Sabiiti to corroborate reports that some of the owners have been using fuel meant for police operations to operate their private commercial vehicle fleets and thereby indulging in unjust enrichment. Some police officers are said to own vast pieces of land in Nakasongora, Namugongo, Mityana, Kayunga, Luwero, Nakaseke, Kiboga, Kyankwanzi, Mubende and Wakiso districts which they have never sufficiently declared to the IGG as required under the Leadership Code. Some are hiding these properties by registering them in the names of their spouses, children, friends and other relatives. Brig Sabiiti’s investigation is supposed to lift the veil on all these hidden treasures. The president believes that desire to become rich could have diverted police bosses from basic policing work and thereby permitting crime to soar. There are also claims some of these riches have been accumulated through participation in or turning a blind eye onto crime enterprises including those that have cost lives. He wants culprits of such unethical practices identified and comprehensively punished using the criminal justice system. This is politically good for Museveni because, for him, it kills two birds with one stone and this is how: rid police of criminal elements, enhance security in the community and once again pacify the country while appeasing the population to eventually reap the political dividend at the next election. Such clean up exercise of the UPF creates new talking points for Musevenists on radio and TV talk shows. It also disarms would-be critics in Parliament.
POLICE PROMOTIONS:
Sabiiti will also be reporting to Museveni about what exactly happened for the Kayihura era police force to end up with Regional Police Commanders (RPCs) superintending over DPCs who are of higher ranks than theirs. It’s awkward, indeed an abnormality, to have a DPC at the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) when the RPC, to whom he reports, is a mere Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). This is why quite often, the DPCs would refuse to implement directives of the RPCs because they considered them to be their subordinates because of the disparities in rank and it’s the common man, meant to consume police services that suffered and paid the ultimate price of this anomalous situation. Sabiiti’s paper will advise on how this anomaly can be rectified and there are also reports of the police actual strength in terms of numbers being inflated. This is why new IGP Ochora wants a head count; a census of sorts in the UPF. During the handover ceremony, internal affairs minister Jeje Odongo praised Gen Kayihura for numerically growing the police force from the 14,000 men he found to 46,000 he left it at. But Police insiders close to Ochora want this number validated through a fresh police census. Yet that isn’t all; Brig Sabiiti will also probe into the workings of the police SACCO closely reflecting on grievances the lower rank officers have been raising regarding their inability to readily access their money saved under this SACCO. It’s a lot of money because every officer’s monthly salary has for years been chopped to make mandatory contribution towards the SACCO. Sabiiti has also been detailed to study the recruitment specifically for the period covering 2010, 2014 and 2016 to verify reports that many unworthy characters were anomalously recruited. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
