By KT Reporter
Following the president’s direct intervention, which has left many police bosses humiliated and exposed to have slept on the job, the IGP Abbas Byakagaba has finally moved to do something to address land grabbing, extortion, environmental degradation and torture-related complaints Ugandan property developers in the areas of Kajjansi, Kitende, Munyonyo, Katale, Kasenge, Nakawuka, Kyengera, Nsangi and Entebbe have over the years been making against Police constable Alex Katungi, attached to the environment protection police unit.
According to New Vision, Byakagaba has instituted an inquiry consisting of senior officers to look into claims that have over the years been sustained against 47-year old Katungi whose arrest was recently done by state house anti-corruption unit head Gen Henry Isoke at the express directive of the president.
Katungi has since been charged with assaulting several residents in the Kajjansi area including a pregnant woman who miscarriaged as a result of torture. On this assault case and conspiracy to do the same, Katungi was recently charged before the Kajjansi magistrate and remanded to Luzira along with AIP Kenneth Hadali, his alleged accomplice.
He had last week been released on bail after paying 5m only to be immediately rearrested and arraigned before the Makindye magistrates court from where he was remanded after being slapped with fresh charges concerning obtaining property through menaces (more charges are being prepared against Katungi).
The complainant in the Makindye case is the property developer JB Mutebi whose 30X30ft piece of land at Kibibi was, according to state house anti-corruption unit as reported by New Vision, forcefully taken over by Katungi who put up rentals which were later demolished by UNRA for being in both a road reserve and protected wetland.
Katungi turned on Mutebi and accused him of misleading him into acquiring land that was problematic and encumbered. Mutebi, whose complaint is one of the many the president based on to order the arrest of Katungi, was required to part with 60m to compensate the police constable or find another alternative piece of land for him.
After the president intervened, the state house anti-corruption unit investigated several things about his operations including mobile money transactions. That is how it was discovered and updated to the president that the police constable, whose salary doesn’t exceed 500k, was daily wiring millions of shillings to some big men in the force using his mobile phone.
The president has since established, through his anti-corruption investigators, that Katungi had become a money collection agent of some sort for some people. In a related development the anti-corruption unit is also investigating similar mobile money transactions that were being done by Katungi-like junior environment protection officers deployed to NFA while sending millions of shillings to their superiors on a daily basis.
Angered by growing public outcry and motivated by the president’s determination to use Gen Isoke’s mean looking investigators to get rid of Katungi-ism and the remainder of kawukumi in the police force once and for all, the IGP Abas Byakagaba over the weekend did more than just instituting a probe committee. The IGG has reshuffled the leadership at the water ministry based environment protection police unit, EPPU, at Luzira.
CP Enock Abaine, who has been the commandant for EPPU since August 2022 and was supposed to exercise supervisory control over PC Katungi, has been relieved of his duties and re-deployed to the joint operations command JOC secretariat where he will be on Katebe for unspecified amount of time. Being on Katebe means being sent to a unit without being assigned specific duties.
You can’t participate in any decision making and all you do is to leave home every day to come to office where you spend the whole yawning, perusing newspapers or watching Lumbuye’s Tik Tok video messages and taking tea. Abaine’s deputy Gertrude Tarmai has also been relieved of her duties for failing to support her boss to do proper supervision to ensure that environment protection constables like Alex Katungi don’t become unruly.
Enock Abaine’s juicy position at EPPU has been given to a commissioner of police Nyarwa who has been serving as the commandant of police marines unit. CP Olal who has been working in the welfare department will be deputizing the commandant at EPPU. They are both in their late 40s and are part of the Chogm intake whose members joined police in the 2006 intake as Uganda prepared to host the commonwealth summit the following year. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
