Scotland Yard to probe graft?
2001-05-30 13:08
Kampala - An Ugandan judicial commission of inquiry into police corruption has recommended that Britain's Scotland Yard be brought in to investigate charges against three former senior officers.
President Yoweri Museveni's government has broadly accepted the recommendations in a report by the commission, which began its probe in April 1999, and whose findings were released in Kampala this week.
The three officers have been named as former Criminal Investigations Department (CID) director John Chris Bakiza, CID crimes director George Garyahandere and CID serious crimes head Claver Byamugisha.
The commission, headed by Justice Julia Sebutinde, suggested that police from London be asked to help as "we do not think that officers of the Uganda Police Force are up to this challenge. We, accordingly, propose that Scotland Yard take up this case."
The commission found that "under the leadership of the three officers, the CID was slowly turning into a Mafia-type organisation, where focus was no longer on detection and investigation of crime," the report said. "The CID has slowly turned into a den of thieves who connive with criminals, equip them to commit crime and offer them protection against prosecution," it added.
Uganda's new Inspector General of Police, Major General Wamala Katumba, this month pledged to act on the enquiry and made several appointments, including that of a new CID chief û Elizabeth Kutesa, formerly district police commander in Jinja, eastern Uganda.
The interior ministry said in a statement that "the government has accepted with few amendments the recommendations in the report. The implementation of the Sebutinde report has already started, beginning with personnel identification and placement in the top
management of the force," the statement added. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA