By John V Sserwaniko
In the latest string of correspondences seen by this news website, officials at Uganda’s embassy in Algeria shed light on the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Jonathan Baroza, an influential aide to ex-IGP Kale Kayihura. Quoting official communications authored by Afripol secretariat, Baroza’s employers until recently, Ambassador Alintuma Nsambu writes to the President and his superiors at the Foreign Affairs Ministry vehemently denying being responsible for Baroza in anyway. In his July 22nd letter, Alintuma explains that since arriving in Algiers he has always heard and read media reports showing Baroza was employed and working in Algiers but he has never had the opportunity to officially be briefed about his activities. Apparently, Baroza only once casually passed by at the Embassy, greeted people and went away. Alintuma is understood to have been disturbed by NTV news reports a few days ago showing that the Algiers embassy leadership had failed to account for Baroza’s whereabouts. “That is being unfair and seeking to implicate an innocent person. How can I account for someone that was never under my supervision and control?” Alintuma was quoted as telling his embassy staff on watching the NTV clip. In his personal explanation, delivered to the President through PSST Molly Kamukama, Alintuma explains that on 9th July 2018 he got communication from his superiors in Kampala asking him to contact Afripol and ask about Baroza’s whereabouts. The foreign affairs ministry had been contacted by a one Mark Sseremba of the Internal Affairs Ministry seeking their help towards Baroza’s apprehension. Sseremba was asking Foreign Affairs to respond to the public call by the IGP Okoth Ochola urging all to support police efforts to apprehend Baroza who has since been declared a wanted person. But in his last week interview with Chimpreports, Baroza disclosed he was somewhere in Scandinavia seeking asylum status. In his letter, Sseremba required Alintuma as follows: “Please provide details indicating whether the officer [Baroza] is still with you and if not, indicate the circumstances under which he left Algeria and where he could be.” In his explanation to the President, Alintuma says he has officially never interacted with Baroza but reports that the Algerian landlord on whose premises the officer has been residing early this week stormed the embassy and abandoned Baroza’s belongings there. The landlord communicated that the Ugandan was no longer wanted on his apartment. The belongings are currently being kept in the Embassy, Alintuma reports to the President.
AFRIPOL SPEAKS OUT;
Meanwhile the Secretariat Afripol, an African Union platform under which all African Police Chiefs unite to fight cross border crimes, has released a statement explaining the circumstances under which Baroza came to be their employee, what he did in those months and how they lost grip of him. In a one page statement, the Secretariat explains that the instrument requesting for Baroza’s deployment on 7th August 2017 was sent to them by officials at the Uganda’s AU Embassy in Addis Ababa. The instrument was seconding him to do diplomatic work at the Afripol secretariat. For all intents and purposes, this Baroza nomination by Kayihura was always going to be successfully accepted by Afripol because the Algerian police chief Gen Abdelghani Hamel, who was hosting the Secretariat, was best friends with Gen Kale Kayihura who was then IGP for UPF. Afripol says Baroza was then contracted to work for two years and his contract was to run from 15th September 2017 to 14th September 2019. He was retained as an expert on terrorism and cross border crimes. The Afripol secretariat explains that Baroza took advantage of his temporary deployment to Congo Brazzaville where he was sent to attend the “High Level Meeting of Police Chiefs” (13th-14th June 2018) to flee and eventually go AWOL. That the secretariat got to know about this after the Afripol liaison officer for the Kampala office communicated to them saying Baroza was now a wanted person. Around the same time, IGP Ochora’s office sent to the Secretariat an air ticket requiring Baroza to travel to Kampala to meet the new IGP. This information was delivered to Baroza whose reaction was that of indifference and apprehension, according to sources at Afripol Secretariat where he was initially expected back for duty on 15th June. The Secretariat sources say the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa too has been notified and has joined efforts to hunt for him for surrender to the Ugandan authorities since he doesn’t enjoy any diplomatic immunity. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
