Humanist

Tomorrow, 21^st July 2025, marks the start of the Uganda Law Society 15th Annual Pro Bono Week. This has got me thinking about the role of the Uganda Police Force in the justice, law and order sector.

Remember when President Museveni decried the kawuukumi in the Police Force and promised to rid the force of such officers? Kawuukumi is a bantu word that means weevils. An astute description of those individual officers destroying the force from within.

In August 2024, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (CID) of the Uganda Police Force, confirmed there are still kawuukumi in the force:

“You are investigating the case and at the end of investigations you find that your CID officer is the kayungirizi (fixer) of the criminal.”  Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Tom Magambo

Drawing on my ongoing personal experiences with the Police, AIGP Magambo is spot on. Successive CID officers that held the position of Pallisa CID, since 2021 until about March 2025, were seemingly the kayungirizi for a criminal terrorizing me and with impunity.

There is a new Pallisa CID for whom my jury is still out and I pray he will be the one to accord me due professional service.

Meanwhile, the criminal boasts that he has in his pocket senior police officers, all the way up to the Office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), assisting and protecting him.

Please, just because he boasts does not necessarily mean it is a fact, but still the conduct of certain senior police officers is eyebrow raising.

Case in point, with seeming help and protection from the Regional Police Commander Bukedi North and the Pallisa District Commander (since transferred), indeed, the criminal exudes ‘I am untouchable.’

He, the criminal, is brazenly in contempt of court, disobeying court orders, and committing other crimes for which his kayungirizi allegedly, according to his boasting, ensure he is not held accountable.

In February 2024, I did report to the Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU) the senior police officers allegedly colluding with the criminal. Case File PSU/GEF/047/2024 was opened.

Over a three months period, thorough investigations were conducted to collect evidence to answer my complaint questions:

• Did the accused officers know of the existence of the court order in my favour?
• Did the officers refuse to enforce the court order?
• Did the officers function as the kayungiziri of the criminal, aiding him to disobey court orders; and how so?

PSU, in accordance with protocol, submitted its investigation report to the Office of the IGP, for the attention of the Directorate of Human Rights and Legal Services to release and take action.

In May 2024, I paid the requisite fee, Ug. Shs. 60,000 for a police report. To date, over 12 months later, the IGP’s office has declined to released to me the relevant report.

Believe me I have spent on transport to and from IGPs Office. I have been made to sit for hours waiting only to be told there is no report for me. Suspiciously lending credit to the boasting of the criminal, it could be deduced.

I do not know if the accused senior officers have been held accountable for their misconduct. Afterall, they continue to hold office. Without a police report on the PSU investigation, what is to stop said senior officers from continuing to abuse office to the detriment of other justice seekers?

I wonder the extent members of ULS will look into how case files are handled by the Police during their pro bono week.

I wonder, is mine a case that ULS may take interest in?

Yes, I need help to get the PSU police report on the investigation of my complaint. And of course assurance that the police officers have been held accountable, if it was confirmed they refuse to enforce Court orders and instead aid criminals to disobey them.