By Spy Uganda
Mutukula: Yesterday September 10, 2020, TheSpy Uganda published an article about the unfortunate incident at Uganda-Tanzania Mutukula border point where the immigration authorities and police connive with the Ministry of Health officials to force returnees into their private quarantines.
Our investigative reporter discovered that Police are extracting a lot of money from those quarantine centres on commission basis, targeting mostly a group of Ugandans coming from UAE countries who dock in Tanzania and decide to use land transport into Uganda over Entebbe’s closure.
Watch Ategeka and Kulumba Held At Mutukula Police Post Over Failure To Pay Bribe
Since these evil acts are conducted by the police chiefs against innocent Ugandans who have for nearly 6 months been stranded in various parts of the world over global lockdown due to COVID-19, we took a move to reach to the Police Spokesperson CP Fred Enanga to educate us whether their officers are deployed at the borders to practice their extortion skills or serve Ugandans.
In response Afande Enanga responded that when it comes to bribery, extortion and violation of people’s Rights, they can not keep silent since their mandate which is even known by their officers is protection of life and property, prevention and detection of crime, keeping law and order, and maintenance of overall Security and Public Safety in Uganda.
“We have taken note on these matters and we have instituted investigations against the said officers, and it will be handled to the latter,” Enanga said.
Our investigator also established that since it’s now mandatory for all entrants to pay shs240,500 for the first test and wait for 14 days while sleeping in the officials’ owned hotels that are designated at the borders, Mutukula, Kabale and other bordering districts, after spending a fortnight, police with MoH officials squeeze victims again to pay another 240,500 to confirm whether they are still positive or turned negative, which is alleged that before their quarantine centres are full, they can’t let any victim go. In other words, it’s no longer shs240,500 but shs481,000, since you have to pay twice, a thing that has complicated the whole exercise further.
“In their target, they believe that Ugandans from UAE have a lot of money and therefore when they tell you to pay and you refuse, they get other means to torture you till you pay them both the COVID-19 fee or their bribe and they let you go immediately even if you are positive,” a source said at the border.
Our source added, “It is now very hard to test a person and they tell him/her that he is negative since more positives is their source of money that they generate by camping both negative and positive patients since they mind about filling their quarantine centres for money not people’s lives.”
Among the culprits going through police torture at Mutukula police post is Mr Ategeka Peter Kamuhanda who came from Dubai via TZ. On arrival at Mutukula, was first arrested, detained for two days, robbed off his property that included his personal belongings like phones among others allegedly by the Police officers who received him and later bunched him into Police cells on charges of ‘illegal’ entry into the country and inciting violence but in real sense according to our sources, is arrested because of failure to pay for their private quarantine centres and bribe. “I’m a Pan-Africanist, I don’t believe in a corrupt society and can never participate in corruption,” Ategeka reportedly told off one of the security operatives who then turned violent to him and his colleague and were slapped with frivolous charges and detained. Kamuhanda is a pioneer member of Pan-African pyramid-Uganda chapter and was returning from UAE to renew his visa in Kampala.
Another culprit who cheated death over police officers brutality after refusing to pay their bribe is a youthful Kulumba Godfrey since he was also a Dubai returnee, he says they did all the types of torture to make him vomit their 200000 bribe.
“I also came from Dubai last week, when i reached at the border, police with MoH officials told me to pay the shs200,000 ‘kickback’ and later pay 240,500 COVID-19 testing fee which i didn’t have and to them it sounded as if I have refused intentionally. They tortured me to near death and later dropped me here at Mutukula police post and opened charges against me of inciting violence and illegal entry into the country” Kulumba confessed.
However Kulumba says, after several days in detention he was surprised to be accused by the same police that it’s him instead who beat them up to pulp. Meanwhile, as he was still explaining the torture he has passed through to our investigative reporter, one of the police officers arrived to check whether he had accepted to pay at least the ‘special’ shs200,000 which is the ‘officer’s fee’ (police bosses manning the border), or not so he would see whether to let him off the hook.
Despite the ministry of health’s spokesperson explanation to our investigative reporter that it is not mandatory to be taken into a private quarantine centre since they understand that there are those who can not afford such charges, hence a reason they reserved public centres meant to be used by such categories of people, Mr Ategeka and Kulumba say when they explained to the immigration officers that they had no money for their forceful quarantine and requested to be taken to Entebbe public quarantine centres, corrupt, unscrupulous and greedy police officers got more anger and that was the beginning of all sorts of torture against them which they are still going through at Mutukula police post.
Watch the space for more updates!
