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Kaweesi killing triggers calls for overhaul of police force

Monday March 27 2017
police

Uganda police. President Museveni has asked the Inspector General of Police Gen Kale Kayihura to "clean up" the force following the killing of Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Kaweesi on March 17. PHOTO | AFP

The quest by the Inspector General of Police Gen Kale Kayihura to have his tenure renewed for the fifth time in November faces a test after President Yoweri Museveni‘s utterances last week betrayed a crisis of confidence in his leadership.

The president charged the force had been infiltrated by criminals, and ordered Mr Kayihura to clean up, a task multiple analysts say is not simple to execute, as it requires a major shakeup of the police ranks.

READ: President Museveni's order after top cop shot dead

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In 2001, Justice Julia Sebutinde recommended an overhaul of the police following a wide ranging inquiry into corruption, mismanagement and abuse of office in the force. A report the inquiry implicated senior officers for running criminal gangs.
But her recommendations were only partially implemented.

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While the police seem aware of the need for an overhaul, the consequences of such exercise remain unclear. On March 22, Assistant Inspector General of Police Asuman Mugenyi said plans were already afoot to screen the entire police force for ineffective officers and those who may be involved in criminal activities. He, however, could not say when or how this screening was going to be done.

“Even before the death of [Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Kaweesi the IGP had ordered for this to be done and we shall do it,” said Mr Mugenyi, police director of operations.

The demand by President Museveni for an immediate clean-up of the police follows the brutal killing of Mr Kaweesi on March 17, in Kkulambiro village about 15Km northeast of Kampala.

President Museveni and a number of senior security personnel have partly situated the death of Kaweesi, who was eulogised as a steely officer, in the relapse of the intelligence capabilities of the police and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).

“All these murders I follow them myself. There are always clues leading to who committed the crime but some of the security groups are infiltrated by the criminals,” said President Museveni.

“So you get a situation where they are intimidating witnesses, sometimes killing witnesses. They leak information. That is why the public fears to report to any of these groups. Because when you tell them, before you leave someone is ringing the one you have reported about. So, the Police have been infiltrated by criminals. Kale you must clean the police especially the CIID,” President Museveni added.

Intelligence gathering

A number of former police officers say police have struggled to gather sufficient intelligence to stay ahead of especially serious crime ever since the Special Branch was disbanded in August 2007 — less than two years after Mr Kayihura’s appointment to head the police. 

Founded in the early 1950s, the Special Branch had grown to become the crux of intelligence, and indeed national security, in Uganda, honing its skills, refining its experiences, building memory banks as well as cultures/practises vital to intelligence work.

Mr Kayihura has given different reasons for winding up the intelligence unit that had established a reputation as the best the country has ever had.
On different occasions, he has said it was aimed to mitigate duplication of work with ISO (which was founded around 1986-87), its officers quietly supplied information to foreign governments, it was a requirement of the international police, or that police was not benefiting from it since it was directly answerable to the Minister for Internal Affairs.

These reasons have lent credence to claims that the disbandment was, in fact, aimed to diminish the influence of officers from the north and northeast regions who predominantly manned it — two regions where President Museveni has never enjoyed much political support. Other critics trace the discomfort with a professional unit much deeper — shielded from political interference, Special Branch had kept critical files on different individuals dating years back, under new leadership at the police, the unit was likely to continue to operate independently something that would not auger well with the new police leadership’s desire for a complete makeover of the force.   

“The removal of the Special Branch from police was a blunder,” said Freddie David Egesa, a private investigator.

“One of the main fabrics of intelligence is how information flows from the base people… When you look at CIID, all the strong officers who know intelligence have been pulled out and are seated redundant at headquarters. Go to regional CIIDs, you find young men running these offices without adequate training and orientation from people with experience,” Mr Egesa added.

Intelligence and surveillance under Mr Kayihura’s tenure, the longest of any IGP in Uganda, has undergone incessant alterations uncommon to intelligence communities to devastating effect.  

Kaweesi’s murder in broad day light was the 12th of its kind under Mr Kayihura’s watch in the past five years. While police insists it has made several arrests in all these cases (they have over 10 suspects in Kaweesi’s alone already).

Twin terror bombings
These killings started two years after the twin terror bombings in Kampala in 2010. Over 70 people died and hundreds more got injured in the biggest attack Uganda has ever witnessed, which was attributed to lapses in intelligence gathering.

In a 2014, stinger against Mr Kayihura, retired Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Herbert Rheno Karugaba said the disbandment of the Special Branch and the side-lining of the CIID had severely degraded the ability of the police to fulfil its constitutional functions.

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