By KT Reporter
On Thursday afternoon, jubilant groups of people gathered at Kajjansi magistrates court to witness the much-dreaded police constable Alex Katungi (45) sweat plasma in the dock before grade 1 magistrate Pascal Olupot.
Along with his co-accused AIP Kenneth Hadali aged 47, Katungi was arraigned after being harvested by the ruthless operatives from the state house anti-corruption unit whose boss Gen Henry Isoke was personally ordered by the president to arrest Katungi.
This was after Museveni received countless complaints from law abiding residents of Kajjansi and Entebbe areas who accused Katungi of torture, unlawful arrests, land grabbing, wetland encroachment and extortion.
The president was shocked to learn that for years, the stinking rich and luxurious hotels-owning Katungi had been reported to police headquarters but nothing was done.
He was instead protected by his godfathers at Naguru who also went as far as marginalizing division level police superiors who tried to stand up to Katungi.
Many such officers were demoted, removed from the police payroll and even maliciously transfered to remove parts of Uganda simply because they dared to call Katungi to order.
Despite his low rank, Katungi used high level connections in police to make money in a short time yet at the same time, he accumulated many haters who disliked his criminal actions of terrorising residents, truck drivers and sand miners besides extorting big sums of money from them.
This explains why large groups gathered outside court to jubilate and thank the president for intervening to ensure that Katungi finally got to faces justice.
Indeed, he was charged with assault and conspiring with Kenneth Hadali to assault Maria Nabukalu of Kitende village Kajjansi town council on 16/January 2025. This is contrary to sections 219 and 364 of the penal code Act.
The two policemen caused bodily harm to Nabukalu who is among the many prosecution witnesses who will be giving evidence against Katungi.
It was easy to see that Katungi had fallen on hard times and while in the dock, he was all alone and frightened.
He masked himself and avoided eye contact with anyone. He faced the concrete wall to escape media cameras that were many in court. The court room was parked to capacity by both haters and sympathizers of his who were mainly his relatives.
He was led into the court room with handcuffs, which excited many of his victims who were clearly relieved to see the man who persecuted them for years finally facing justice.
Some were in disbelief as they never expected to see this in their life time. Some called him the contemporary Uganda police force’s boda boda patron Abdul Kitata who tortured hundreds of people during IGP Kale Kayihura’s days.
Only veteran lawyer Mwesigwa Rukutana was in court and is pro-Katungi. But Rukutana didn’t seem enthusiastic to do a lot to help his man not spend the weekend in Luzira. Apart from occassionally guiding the young defense lawyer who was submitting, Rukutana was on his phone most of the time leaving a younger lawyer Allan Rubaihayo to make all the submissions alone.
After reading out the charges, the magistrate informed Katungi of his right to apply for bail on which Rubaihayo immediately submitted. He lined up more than 5 sureties all of whom were found wanting and not adequately substantial by court.
These included Katungi’s aunt Mable Kyasimire (63), his brother Eric Tugume (63), Obed Twijukye a little known graphics design businessman from Kibuli and 51 year old Vicent Masajjage, a school teacher at Bridges School Zana.
There was also Yusuf Ssenabulya, a carpenter who believed selling a set of chairs to one of the accused persons from his workshop at Namulanda qualified him to be an effective joint surety for both.
At the prompting of the state attorney, the magistrate rejected all these sureties as not substsntial enough to compel the accused persons to attend court. There was also concern that the two being influential police officers, they would interfere with investigations which are still ongoing, if released.
Masajjage couldn’t clearly introduce himself to court in terms of his place of abode. He couldn’t tell the name of his parish, ward and division where he resides. That a secondary school teacher couldn’t tell court where he stays and the name of the zone where he lives only made things more complicated for Katungi. It caused the magistrate to trust him less.
The magistrate wondered how a secondary school teacher couldn’t know his ward and the fact that Zana and Bunamwaya are located in Wakiso’s Makindye Ssabagabo and not Kampala’s Makindye division. This created doubts as to Masajjage’s credibility as a surety.
Masajjage then turned around and began saying he was more deeply connected to Katungi because he is his pastor. Instead of telling court the name of the church he pastors him from, Masajjage said he was simply the family pastor for Katungi and his dear wife.
Masajjage resorted to beginning to pray inside the court as things crumbled even more as carpenter Yusuf Ssebuyenga was also rejected as a surety on grounds that merely selling one set of chairs to one of the accused persond couldn’t be relied on to imply a substantial relationship and closeness which can be relied on to compel the accused person’s attendance to court. The magistrate rejected this carpenter-client relationship as too loose to make Ssebuyenga an effective surety. Some witnesses didn’t even have introductory letters from their LCs.
As Katungi sweated plasma while facing the wall, journalists present wondered where his powerful backers in the Uganda police where at this moment to stand surety for him. Some wondered why Rukutana wouldn’t become surety to increase his man Katungi’s chances to get bail.
Lawyer Rubaihayo pleaded with the magistrate to grant the two accused persons bail on grounds that being police officers, they could even be released without a single surety. The magistrate was unmoved and that’s how the much-feared Katungi ended up being remanded up to April 9th when he will be back to court.
SHACU SPEAKS OUT:
The state house anti-corruption unit thanked the two sister agencies of ODPP and the police CID with whom they worked to finally bring Katungi to justice.
In a Thursday public statement, the unit revealed that Katungi faces more charges relating to harrassment of innocent citizens, using his office as a policeman under the environment protection unit to carry out illegal development activities in protected areas of Entebbe & Kajjansi; land grabbing, conducting illegal arrests and extortion targeting investors.
All these were committed in areas within and surrounding Entebbe and Kajjansi. With the president keenly following the matter, it’s going to be hard for Katungi to overcome all these challenges and he will most likely have to rot in jail for longer than he thinks because sources close to the investigations say that the evidence against him is overwhelming-URN.
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