By Mulengera Reporters
In what must make everyone (with a conscience) feel intrigued and worried, state-owned New Vision this Monday 20th November has published a cover page story indicating growing cases of heavily armed robbers wrapping their criminal mission vehicles with posters and logos of MK Movement to effect their mischief.
Authored by Simon Masaba, the New Vision story was sparked by a recent robbery at the Tanzania-Ugandan border town of Mutukula during which a group of Police bosses and other accomplices, at gun point, robbed USD350,000 (roughly Shs1.3bn) from money changers. There is a lot of money-changing transactions at the border as traders and business people cross the border to facilitate trade.
The New Vision quotes Afande Clare Nabakka who deputizes national Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga as revealing that, overall, the robbery was coordinated by Namayingo Police Station OC CID boss ASP James Katana who travelled 500kms away from his duty station to go and effect the robbery at Mutukula on the night of Tuesday 19th September.
That James Katana has since been arrested and will soon be arraigned in Court along with other accomplices namely Jesphat Nuwagaba aka Jose, Richard Kyomuhendo alias Ricky and Moses Lubega. Some of these are still on the run but will certainly be harvested sooner than later. The state-owned newspaper makes reference to several other robberies that were previously orchestrated by UPDF soldiers and Police commanders working with other accomplices.
These include the March 2023 incident which saw several Police and UPDF officers apprehended for participating in and facilitating criminal gangs that have been terrorizing Ugandan citizens whose security they are supposed to ensure. The perpetrators included UPDF’s Rogers Alibuza, John Anthony Nabinoli, Pte Patrick Amanda, John Steven Opio and Sadat Tigatoola.
Yet that isn’t all. The news report also refers to the 2020 incident which had Marine Police officers hijacking, compromising and using the Police fire boat no. UP 086 to facilitate movement of stolen goods through Lake Victoria. The perpetrators, who have since been apprehended, included Christopher Kyebogola, Amos Otim, Peter Olobo and David Mungoma all of whom were attached to Kasenyi-based Marine Unit.
Much earlier on in 2017, another group of seven Police lower level commanders and leaders were implicated in aggravated robbery in Wakiso and they included ASP Tony Ogwang, ASP Agnes Ekwenya, Sgt Margaret Adiru and corporals Eunice Kyanda, John Mark Omukaga, Ibrahim Tenywa and Safiq Kihumbi.
The state newspaper has this Monday morning published phone numbers of the Police’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU) on which aggrieved Ugandans should ring to report rogue-minded Police officers and men for immediate apprehension. The lines include 0800300119 & 0800199199 (toll free), 0757711031, 0757711996, 0757711887, 0757711622, 0757711864 & 0757711183.
Whereas Enanga is expected to use this Monday’s weekly Police press conference to talk more about the Mutukula robbery, the New Vision news report, quoting the Police Spokesperson, reveals that: “Preliminary Police investigations indicate that the suspects, using a Toyota-Hiace meticulously wrapped with posters branded MK [Muhoozi Kainerugaba] to conceal their identity, successfully executed the robbery on September 19th when they intercepted the cash from the money changers who operated in Mutukula at the Uganda-Tanzanian border in Kyotera district.”
This name-dropping of big people is one trick crooks and criminal-minded actors have used in Uganda for years to commit for instance traffic or even robbery offences (as we now know), while using vehicles branded with posters of big people or even NRM colors and logos, in the hope that the same can scare Police not to dare stand in their way in enforcement of the law.
The best thing the MK Movement leadership ought to do, to mitigate this impending reputational damage, is to come out and issue public notices unequivocally distancing themselves from such wrongdoers and criminal enterprises. The same risks making them misunderstood and thereby risking their hard-earned reputation which everyone or entity must guard jealously in this era of social media propaganda and misinformation. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at [email protected]).
