The Minister of Internal Affairs has appealed to members of the public to place a dividing line between Kale Kayihura the individual and the institution, highlighting both as two distinct entities.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Gen. Aboubakar Jeje Odongo said the police boss could not be sued, as an individual, because was “holding a constitutional office” after he was accused of ignoring a summons to appear in court to answer charges of police brutality against opposition supporters.
“Is he being charged as an individual or as an institution?” Gen Jeje Odongo asked the members of the Fourth Estate. He stressed, “We should be talking about Inspector General of Police as the institution and not the individual.”
About 20 human rights lawyers are behind a case against Gen Kayihura over alleged police brutality against supporters of defeated presidential candidate Kizza Besigye.
Gen Kayihura failed to show up in court earlier this month, alleging that he had not received the summons.
He also failed to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating the allegations.
Mr Besigye and his supporters have rejected long-serving ruler Yoweri Museveni’s victory in elections in February as fraudulent.
The Internal Affairs Minister also condemned last week’s 10th August 2016 demonstrations at Makindye court as unlawful.
“Ministry of Internal Affairs does not condone or support unlawful demonstration or gatherings,” Odongo said. He added that, “Government regrets the incident and also notes similar incidences that happened in the past and will take measures to ensure that these are not repeated again.”
In the case of SP Aaron Baguma – Jejje Odongo was quick to say, the matter is before the Directorate of Public Prosecution, “I can say categorically he (SP Aaron Baguma) will appear in court and be charged accordingly.”
Baguma is supposed to answer to murder charges but the police have failed to hand him over for trial.
