There was commotion and tension at Wakiso Police Division on Monday evening when soldiers, reportedly attached to the presidential taskforce on Land Matters and Environment led by Brig Moses Lukyamuzi, stormed the station and demanded the release of detained suspects.
The soldiers are said to have placed the division police commander (DPC), SP Esther Kiiza, at gunpoint, ordering her to undress in an incident that escalated into a heated standoff.
“They came and ordered me to undress. They claimed I had defied orders. I asked them whose orders I had defied. They insisted I needed to remove the uniform because I was under arrest,” Kiiza said.
Her defiant response raised alarm, prompting 13 police officers who had witnessed the soldiers enter the DPC’s office to cock their guns and surround the office, ready to defend their commander.
Faced with imminent confrontation, the 10 soldiers reportedly fled the scene, driving off in their vehicles. The officer in charge of the station (OC) swiftly alerted Kampala North regional police commander (RPC), SSP Moses Nanoka, who coordinated with Kakiri military barracks for reinforcement.
A few minutes later, Nanoka, accompanied by a team of soldiers, arrived at Wakiso Police Division but were informed that the soldiers had just left the station, and a chase was launched.
“We were able to surround the soldiers’ vehicles at Yesu Amala. They refused to get out of the cars, claiming they needed to receive orders from their superiors. We refused to entertain that explanation and arrested them,” Nanoka reportedly explained in a briefing sent to the Kampala Metropolitan police headquarters.
The apprehended soldiers were not taken to the police station but were instead transported to Kakiri military barracks for further handling. This incident comes barely a month after a similar raid at Lubowa police station, where Special Forces Command (SFC) soldiers, led by Lt Samson Amo, reportedly beat up police officers and civilians at the station.
Amo had allegedly ordered ASP Innocent Sunday, the station commander, to detain suspects without proper charges. When Sunday refused, he was slapped repeatedly, and officers who came to his aid were also assaulted.
Although police filed aggravated robbery charges against Amo and his men, the case has since stalled, reportedly because SFC has not handed the suspects over for prosecution.
Have lawyers gone down the drain ?
Aggravated robbery, what did they steal ?
Wouldn’t it be better to file charges under assault ?
Banange, just because we do not have jobs that we studied for doesn’t mean we should let 🤡 clowns run the show…
Isn’t a charge under assault more of a sure win than aggravated robbery?
Please start naming the names of these people who prefer charges, I bet some of them are not qualified to hold those offices…
(Under the Bobi wine body guard aggravated robbery case, mbu the Tecno smartphone allegedly stolen has never been manufactured by Tecno…yet the case is being entertained).
The thing is that Mr. Museveni`s Uganda has become a nation of liars . It is all about perfecting the vice.
They stole mobile phones from the Policemen and civilians they had beaten. Yes, when you threaten or torture someone and take their property while armed with a weapon (gun, machete, or club), that qualifies as aggravated robbery.
Besides, a single incident can result in multiple charges. The soldiers who attacked the police station can be charged with assault and battery, false imprisonment, torture, aggravated robbery, criminal trespass, and destruction of government property.
My point was/is isn’t it better to slap charges on someone that will stick instead of creating a big charge sheet for the sake of publicity ?
Besigye has a heavy charge sheet for publicity purposes but none will stick…(How many good cases are denied attention because of Besigye’s case?)
Who ends up looking foolish, the DPP who excelled at law school but can’t successfully prosecute or the defendant ?
The reputation of the Justice system is at stake…
Marylyn, certain things have wider implications;
What do you think will happen if the judicial arm of government is seen as a circus ?
Will people accept to be arrested ?
Will the citizens help police arrest bad elements for rehabilitation or will the citizens just “work” on them ?
Won’t bad elements use this reluctance of the public to commit crimes with impunity leading to citizens “dealing” with them with impunity ?
Won’t this lead to total collapse of our society ?
Look at the mob justice of boda boda riders, can you tell them anything in a civilized manner without being at risk of a lynching ?
Case backlog is a problem in Ugandan courts, why add to it because you want to show people that you can write English ?
Why not go for a “slam dank” and be done with it within a week ?
You want to go to court; define false imprisonment, relate it to the army guy, robbery define it then relate it to the army guy, criminal trespass ( at a police station which is a public place ?), being a vagabond would be better but still they had a locus as to why they were there…etc all the while the army guy’s lawyer is defending him…when will that case end ?(2 years from now?
Would the aggrieved parties still be interested?
Who still follows the traffic officer’s case whose leg was amputated because he was shot by an army officer ?
Would your long charge sheets help him ?)
How many people will be denied justice ?( whose cases can be settled by that same judge in one afternoon because the charges are a “slam dank”)
I did not do law but I can tell when I am being taken for a ride in semantics…I hope you understand what I am saying…
If you want, I can break down the defense of the army guy’s lawyer in relation to your big charge sheet(criminal trespass, aggravated robbery, destruction of government property, etc) to show that if we take your approach there will be no justice but if we take mine with the summary charge, the army guy will be punished…
If army starts attacking police then the situation is almost there
I thought the army was very professional and well disciplined and in the barracks. Anyway that is how it supposed to be. It was like tat in the past regimes and we did not hear of such incidents.
Well , the truth is that what used to be a “professional and well disciplined” police is now another wing of the army. Since almost all commanders come from “the village” and all carry the same combant weapons and similar state of mind , one wing may decide they are not going to be intimidated by the other. That is what happened in Wakiso Police Division under the command of Kiiza.
Besides that , something else should be noted: Mr. Museveni`s police is the only one in the whole world where Commissioned Officers outnumber constables.
Back in the day , Police Commissioned Officers and constables carried no weapons. Officers did their job in Offices and did not participate in street operations. Patrols were headed by Sargeants and Corporals .
These days , wherever there is an incident , however small , every police man/ woman on the scene is high-ranked.
This is the Police in which an RPC Officer was filmed freely punching away at a civilian in Kawempe elections, as other Officers idly looked on.
Unfortunately, if you’ve in the recent years dealt with police and the army, you’d most definitely prefer the army a million times. While a soldier will declare his intentions and most likely follow through with them, a policeman will declare multiple intentions to as many audiences and not follow through with any. I frankly wonder if police still has any soul left at all – chronically expecting bribes before serving, siding with criminals, etc. Sadly, if I ever found a policeman in a struggle with, say, a pack of hyenas, I’d most likely do what police has petrified me into – look the other way. I wouldn’t easily say the same about an individual soldier.
The writing is on the wall, echoing from the east where I hail. It begins as a mere spark, yet it holds the power to ignite a blaze that will send everything crashing down.
Dear Emojong, you cannot reap what you did not show.
The citizenry of Uganda is still sleepy (Babongota)
1. They still hold a man in high regard who suffered from cancer, went to Germany for treatment and came back and built a church instead of a hospital for people in his home area- Mr. Sam Kutesa, Sebambule district…
2. A chief justice hailing from an area suffering from nodding disease/hunger builds a church instead of talking to his partner to suppplement the north’s food with bettet nutrients or set up a feeding charity. See Justice Owinyi Dollo builds church
3. Same goes for The Deputy Speaker who built a church but his people pass through watering holes carrying the sick to reach hospital…
All the above are held in high regard by the citizenry, with such a citizenry, I wonder whether you are the only one seeing the writing on the wall…
We the elite have not done enough to enlighten the citizenry yet we want then to act the right way…to me that is a tall order.
Two weeks ago, our land was grabbed and there was forced eviction from our farm in Njeru. Lugazi police were assisting with concern since the local police were involved by supervising the land grabbers demolishing our plantation and other things.
The police received a phone call from their superior to get off the case and let things go. Of course their jobs were threatened and this is awful to say the least.
Land grabbers are conniving with the big policemen to steal people’s property
this is so sad.
Jenny, I thought policemen were permanent and pensionable meaning if one is to fire them, one has to go through a lengthy process…according to the public service employment guidelines…it is not like the private sector where you can be fired at the drop of a hat…
Aren’t you giving rotten people excuses to be rotten ?
With all the nonsense these policemen are involved in, their numbers and the publicity of their “punishment”, don’t you see a pattern? It is much more convenient to transfer or demote a policeman than to fire him…( He can always be transferred back and promoted but never losses his income/purpose of the job).
Aren’t you letting rotten people bring their rot on you by deceiving you that they can get fired easily and lose income to feed their families ?