Two city lawyers have written to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga asking her to halt the re-appointment of the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura before approving his new contract.
In a letter to Kadaga issued yesterday, lawyers Brian Atuhaire and Andrew Karamagi also asked Kadaga to cause an investigation against General Kayihura, accusing him of among other things violation of human rights and participating in partisan politics.
“As citizens in both our private and official capacities, we (undersigned)are concerned about the record of Gen Kale Kayihura particularly as it relates to human rights observance, partisan politics and the substitution of institutions with parallel/informal mechanism such as Crime Preventers, the Kiboko Squad and the insurgent Kifeesi,” reads the letter in part.
Further, Atuhaire and Karamagi said the country is still reeling from the shock of Kayihura’s admission that the Uganda Police Force, both at rank-and-file and officer levels, has been infiltrated by criminals who have become abettors of violent crime.
“It did not help matters when at a Press Conference convened by Gen Kayihura himself at which he paraded alleged suspects accused of being part of the panga-wielding gangs that were wrecking terror and havoc in the countryside, one of the suspects confessed that they are protected and transported by police officers to and from their criminal activities. This is catastrophic, to say the least! One would have expected Gen Kayihura’s immediate resignation and prosecution,” their letter states.
It’s against such a background that the two asked the appointments committee not to confirm Kayihura as IGP.
“We hereby submit this careful compilation of human rights violations, partisan conduct of the police force leadership and the use of excessive force with a view to persuading the honourable Appointments Committee, in its wisdom, to halt the confirmation process of Gen Kayihura as Inspector General of Police.”
Kayihura’s name was seconded to Kadaga for reappointment as IGP in a March this year, and awaits vetting by Parliament at a yet to be communicated date.
Gen. Kayihura has been at the helm of police since 2005 when he succeeded current works minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala.
