Uganda police has bought escort vehicles for all its directors almost six months after Andrew Felix Kaweesi, a director himself, was publicly gunned down in the company of only one bodyguard and driver.
Kaweesi, a former police spokesman and director of Human Resource, was killed on March 17 on his way from home in Kulambiro, a Kampala suburb. He was riding in a police Land Cruiser.
Police spokesperson Asan Kasingye confirmed police has bought the escort vehicles but could not disclose the number or the amount spent on them. He told The Observer in a weekend interview that: “We passed a policy in the Police Council that every director should have an escort car to beef up their security.”
There are about 21 directors in the force. A source in the force said the institution had spent about Shs 6bn on buying escort cars for all police directors to beef up their security. This newspaper could not independently verify that figure. Kasingye said he “didn’t know the cost” and sent us to the director of logistics for the cost. We could not reach the director by press time.
A high-ranking police officer told The Observer they “had found out that one escort and a driver was not enough for the security of a director [in police].”
The source further intimated to us that after the death of Kaweesi, the police council met and decided that every police director must have an escort car.
“Every director will be escorted by a police patrol with eight counter terrorism officers, four on each side of the car,” said the officer.
“The death of Kaweesi was a lesson to us and we cannot allow another director to die Kaweesi style. We must ensure that their security is tight,” said another senior officer.
We have been told that the cars are currently parked at the Inspector of Vehicles ( IOV) offices in Naguru as they fix back seats.
“We already have the cars with us and we fin- ished testing them and we are now fixing back seats and within one week we shall be done,” said a source at IOV in Naguru.
The Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura, is expected to officially hand over the vehicles to the directors soon.