Kampala: The Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura has said he regrets the two incidents of Tuesday and Wednesday involving police beating the civilians.
However, Gen. Kayihura also faulted members of the public for the continued provoking of the force but said every details of what transpired will be known when Police Professional Standard Unit (PSU) completes the investigations.
“I want of course to regret any incident that disturbs the public. We are pro-people, we are not anti-people and I don’t want these images that police is against the people” Gen. Kayihura told a press briefing this today evening July 14, 2016 at the police headquarters.
Adding “However, having acknowledged this, those judging us harshly should put in mind that Dr. Besigye has continued with his defiance campaign”
Kayihura explained that in both incidents of Tuesday on Gayaza road where police was involved in canning members of the public including those that were going about with their activities and that of Wednesday on Entebbe road where similar incident occurred, police picked information that Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Kizza Besigye had plans to block both roads with intension of diverting crowds back to the Central Business Centre to cause chaos.
“The one of yesterday was meant to block Entebbe road and that would mean that traffic on Entebbe road would be blocked and I appreciate why police acted that way. However, in all these, we had intelligence reports that there would be destruction of property around the city” the police chief said.
He said police has a constitutional obligation to keep law and order and so in doing so, some officers are likely to go out of the prescribed limits but that doesn’t mean it is intended.
“I would like that when you judge the police, put it in context because police in effort to disperse the crowds, it become selective and when some members of the public assault police, it isn’t an issue. These cameras are being used selectively to demonize the police and this is not journalism but propaganda”.
Gen. Kayihura also retaliated that PSU is investigating the incidents and informed revealed that 100 officers of his force are under investigation for different cases.
Kayihura also disclosed that police will use buttons more often because the force is moving away from blasts like tea gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets. He however, said that should the public use excessive force, police would resort to the above until the situation is normalized.
“We have decided that we avoid blasts but employ more accommodative as we reduce on the use of rubber bullet, live bullets and tear gas. And the options available will be buttons and water cannons”
