PSU Investigates Kabarole DPC

http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=54475

Joseph Kihamba, the Kabalore district Police Commander is in trouble for alleged connivance with administrators of Mpanga secondary school to inflate the cost of services offered to the school by the force. Kihamba is being investigated by the Professional Standards Unit-PSU. Kihamba has been replaced by Geoffrey Kaheebwa, who has been Masaka District Police Commander. In 2012, Mpanga Secondary School sought the services of Fort Portal police station to guard construction materials. Police deployed two cops at the cost of 24,000 each day.

At the end of each month, 700,000 shillings from the guarding services, was deposited on the revenue collection account of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) at the police headquarters. However, it is alleged that Kihamba received 1.2 million shillings per month from the school for the whole of last year. In a telephone interview, Charles Babweteera, the head of the Anti-Corruption desk, at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) told Uganda Radio Network that the money was being signed by police officers on duty at the school. Babweteera says that investigations were carried out and it was established that after signing for the money at the end of each month, it was then taken to Kihamba who never accounted for it.

According to Babweteera, it was illegal for Kihamba to receive more money from the school and yet the money for the guards was being paid to the police headquarters.  He says Kihamba received the money for his personal use, since he didn’t account for it to the police authorities. Babweteera says that the Officer In-charge Fort Portal Police Station, Abdul Mulawa is also under investigations for allegedly sharing the money with Kihamba. The extra money paid to Kihamba was unearthed by the Ruwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition (RAC), an NGO in the region, which petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Government (IGG) and the State Minister for Ethics and Integrity, Fr. Simon Lokodo to investigate why the school was paying extra money to the police.

Kayihura then instructed the PPSU to investigate the allegations against Kihamba. Last week, Kihamba was ordered to leave office and report to the police headquarters. Babweteera also told Uganda Radio Network that police is also investigating some school administrators at Mpanga, who could have connived with Kihamba. The professional standards unit of the Uganda police force is responsible for handling citizen's complaints, investigating misconduct, negligence of duty and handling civil complaints brought against the police force and its employees.