By Ronaldo Kalangi
Uganda Police Force has come up to clarify on the information that ran on Friday September 28th, 2018 on page 5 of one of dailies, titled “MPs disturbed over police chief’s security”.
It stated that Members of Parliament on the Internal Affairs and Defense Committee had expressed concern over reports that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had abandoned his security detail convoy due to lack of fuel for the cars. The story went on to allege that the MPs on the committee were upset by the failure of the police to show up at Parliament, something they allegedly referred to as “impunity”, amounting to “undermining the committee”.
“First of all, the Inspector General of Police, J.M Okoth-Ochola (ESQ) has not abandoned his security detail and is not about to do so. The IGP does not lack fuel for the entire police force to run the force’s operations let alone his security detail.
Secondly, the Uganda Police Force top management under the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had been scheduled to interface with the committee on Internal Affairs and Defense on Thursday September 27th, 2018 at 10:00AM but shortly before the officers set off, they were notified of the change of schedule due to other urgent official assignments by the minister. We were equally informed that the chairperson of the committee had been notified. Accordingly, the officers stood down on those clear grounds.
Therefore, the record ought to be straight that police did not snub the committee as insinuated. It is not our habit and practice to do so; either to parliament or to any other body in execution of our duties.
I hope that this gives a clear impression of what exactly happened, as an accountability mechanism to the people we serve but also for future references. We are always available to answer these queries at all times.”
