A mini truck driver Julius Ssemwaka was on Monday shot dead by Charles Bahati, a police constable from the Very Important Persons Protection Unit (VIPPU) for allegedly refusing to give way to a police van.
Ssemwaka was killed along Sezibwa Road, near the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala at around 4:00 pm on Monday. He was at the time driving a truck, registration number UAX 640C with empty jerricans.
According to Joseph Musa, a boda boda rider who witnessed the shooting, Bahati, was on a police patrol vehicle with other officers. Musa stated that the officers appeared to be in a hurry and ordered the vehicles in front to give way.
The van was unable to move due to a traffic jam, leading to a heated exchange between Ssemwaka and the officers. According to Musa, the driver tried to explain that he couldn’t move because of the jam, but Bahati jumped out of the patrol vehicle and shot Ssemwaka once.
Immediately after the shooting, Bahati fled the scene, despite his colleagues’ attempts to apprehend him.
“He [Bahati] took off on a boda boda with his gun after his two colleagues jumped out of the patrol vehicle to try and arrest him,” Musa said. “The other officers then jumped back into the patrol vehicle and sped away.”
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said that a search operation for Bahati has been intensified. “Our officer fled the scene with his weapon and is currently at large,” Rusoke said. “We have also launched an investigation into this unfortunate incident.”
This incident is not the first involving security personnel misbehaving toward civilians or colleagues on the roads. In January 2022, a UPDF soldier shot constable Robert Mukebezi when he found him towing a military vehicle involved in an accident.
In 2019, Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza and his bodyguards assaulted Esther Namaganda when she stopped them from making a U-turn in Seeta. In May of the previous year, PC Ivan Wabwire shot and killed Indian national Uttam Bhandar near Parliament Avenue. CCTV footage showed Wabwire firing multiple bullets after a brief discussion with the victim.
Psychologists, such as Edward Bantu, have attributed misconduct by security personnel on the roads to factors like poor working conditions, inadequate pay, and the lack of regular mental health check-ups.
These kinds of things shouldn’t be allowed to happen. These people who call themselves VIPs and move in police escorts are causing mayhem on roads. It is like they own the roads and the rest of us are not supposed to step on these roads.
They act with a lot of impunity and chase off the roads the taxpayers who fund their luxury lifestyle and pay for those very cars that drive often at break-neck speed.
Does this government really care about the people?
What a tragedy to be born in musevini Uganda
Our roads are rife with “VIP” convoys and “emergency” vehicles blaring their sirens, driving dangerously, endangering life and property and disregarding traffic laws.
A special court should be set up to try these offences since the Criminal Justice System has turned a blind eye to “emergency” vehicles and “VIP” convoys.
The system should try both Bahati and the driver of the police vehicle. In the case of “VIP” convoys, the “VIP” should be a co-accused person.
There is an urgent need to restore sanity on our roads. One life lost is one too many.
Bahati must have had a team leader on the van. Is it the team leader who gave the shooting orders?
Can the team lead then be held responsible for the crime? We are always told there should be order from above.
Team leaders, drivers and principals (in the case of VIPs) must all be held accountable.
It’s a pity that the people we pay from the tax collected from us the citizens are the same goons committing such crimes pretending to escort corrupt officials only to go and misuse our Money.
But our proclaimed president continues to turn a blind as he preaches peace yet citizen with such incidents continue to leave in a tormented mental state once they hear to sirens to the so-called Vvips🤔
It’s a pity that the people we pay from the tax collected from us the citizens are the same goons committing such crimes pretending to escort corrupt officials only to go and misuse our Money.
But our proclaimed president continues to turn a blind as he preaches peace, yet citizens with such incidents continue to leave in a tormented mental state once they hear to sirens the so-called Vvips🤔