WHY POLICE MAY NOT NEED GEN KAYIHURA ANYMORE Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura is begging the Police Authority to grant him another term, when his tenure expires on November 10, 2014. The general reason, among other things, is that it is only him who can deliver what he has initiated. From this pleading, we cannot be blamed if we concluded that Kayihura’s success is his own failure. I would not like to believe that whatever Kayihura accomplished in the police was purely work of one person. It must have been a team, and he must have benefitted hugely from the experience of other advisors and officers. By that reason alone, to me, since whatever achievement made was not a scientific innovation or discovery, the programmes initiated can still be delivered by those officers who were part of his team. Again, Kayihura’s decision to ask for the job and flaunt a long list of personal achievements further highlights the “I” fiction and immortality paradigm that he seems to have been ‘cloned’ from President Museveni. If you have been a keen observer of the president’s speeches, he prefers to use “I” to “we”. Meaning that he is the wisest among the wise and many of the programmes in government have succeeded because of his personal efforts. By the way, the president never makes mistakes, it is either his ministers or NRM; Kayihura says that it was because of his personal efforts that the police budget was increased to Shs 412 billion. But this was a no brainer. Part of that money does not really do police work, but NRM political work. The leaked audio tapes that recorded the discussion between him and the different NRM factions and opponents can bear me witness on this. It was also important that Kayihura was given a huge budget to quell riots and political manoeuvres that were detrimental to NRM. So, is the budget for police improved because Kayihura is a better manager of resources? Does it mean that if, God forbid, Kayihura died or became mentally incapable, the police force would go down with him? Unlikely. If Kayihura had been a good leader, like the outgoing Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioner General Allen Kagina, then there would be no need to cry wolf. She, together with her team, built systems that can be relied on and even improved, with or without her presence. This is what Kayihura, the micromanager that he tells us he is, has failed to do. The police also need a fresh breath of air, a kind of paradigm shift. A shift from a military police to a humane, civil one – recruited, trained and ready to protect citizens and enforce laws without bias or favour. It is in Kayihura’s reign that the line between police and military, which was hitherto clear, began to blur. We have a police force trained with a military ethos, equipped with martial hardware but, unfortunately, without the military discipline. We have a police force with assault rifles. We have police in gas masks, menacingly lurched on military-armoured vehicles, patrolling unarmed citizens along city streets. One could be forgiven for thinking that the army has taken over the civil police work. The convergence of military and police work, especially in the extreme cases like counter terrorism, have been normalized. Now, even simple demonstrations of students, traders or political activists have to be quelled or witnessed by a heavy presence of military men and armoured vehicles. The tactics, culture, equipment and ethos of the military have turned into everyday policing! It is in the same man’s reign that the dodgy and shadowy kiboko squad emerged. This was an ungazetted organisation but was proudly part of the Uganda Police Force. Ugandans, some of whom have suffered the brunt of its brutality, have never had an explanation of their existence. Who do they report to? How are they recruited? And Kayihura does not think he owes an explanation to citizens. The Uganda Police Force needs an IGP who is accountable to the people and not to his military superiors. It was during Kayihura’s reign that ill-trained and almost rogue [so-called] special police constables (SPCs) were unleashed onto Ugandans. They were truly trigger-happy fellows, who brooked no scintilla of reasoning. They often loved pointing guns at citizens, even at the slightest of provocations. I am not sure if they were disbanded or just absorbed into the regular force. During Kayihura’s time, guns have seemed better tools of policing, than ordinary civil means. Even cracking down on prostitution needs police officers to be heavily armed, before they can storm makeshift lodges! Kayihura dissolved the elite intelligence wing of the police, Special Branch, and merged it with the Criminal Investigations Department, to form the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (CIID). Special Branch was a highly professional and specialised unit. Little wonder then that, when the ethnic clashes in Kasese and Bundibugyo erupted, the police force was caught napping. Guns cannot gather information! It is in the same regime that we got the extortionist arm of police, the Violent Crimes Control Unit (VCCU). This group was arbitrary, and had a carte-blanche licence to shoot to kill. Many people used it to settle personal scores. There were several extrajudicial killings that this group was involved in, that police is yet to account for. After dizzying embarrassments, the unit was disbanded. But we don’t know what happened to the personnel. True, Kayihura has made some useful contributions to the police; but that institution now needs a different leader, with a different ethos. We need a public officer, ready to protect the community, and not a partisan officer, using public resources to promote a biased agenda, at the expense of the growth of the institution.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:03:52 +0000
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