By Davis Mugabi
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Maj Gen Rtd Kahinda Otafiire, has petitioned President Yoweri Museveni over a prime property located along Kira Road in Kampala
There has been back and forth legal battle over the said property.
However, recently, the court pronounced a one Yusuf Ssemakula as the legal owner.
The court also instructed the Police to enforce the court order.
However, since then, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Maj Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Katsigazi has been issuing parallel orders contrary to that issued by the court.
Days ago, operatives attached to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit raided the property and arrested all private guards from Magnum Security earlier deployed to guard the property with full clearance from police headquarters.
This, in total, disregarded the court order.
Now, the Kampala Gazette has understood that Gen Otafiire has written to the President to take action against Katsigazi and others.
It should be remembered that last year, the President blocked any involvement of military officers on land conflicts.
“Soldiers should be fighting, not patrolling land boundaries. The good thing is that we are moving forward, and at the right time, we shall deal with the issue of the land. The 1998 Land Act was very strong because it protected the bibanja holders, and when you see people being evicted, it is because they don’t know about that land act. We also have the issue of the elite not helping ordinary people. That is part of the problem. Otherwise, the existing law would protect those people,” he said.
It should be remembered that the President barred the army to be involved in any land conflicts as its the mandate of the Uganda Police Force, however on 11th March a one Natasha Mariam Oduka led a team of army officers on the orders of Henry Isoke at the approval of Tumusiime-Katsigazi and they jumped the fence into the property of a one Ssemakula Yusuf and stole property amounting to 120,000$ and also drove off his security guards to an unknown place.
Minister Otafire In his letter to the President stated that “there is no doubt Uganda Police
Officers have objected to respect court orders in their scope of operations.
And asked the President to take action against David Muhoozi, Tumusiime-Katsigazi, and Isoke Henry whom the DIGP paves way for in order to jeopardise implementation of lawful orders, and he as the custodian of the institution denies any involvement in the illegal acts and also does nothing about it.
Otafire further swore not to convene a ministry where junior officers neglect to implement lawful orders for their selfish reasons.
