Kale Kayihura to Hand Over to Ochola Tomorrow

Sacked Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gen Kale Kayihura is scheduled to hand over office to his successor Okoth Ochola tomorrow, sources say.

The former Police chief was relieved of his duties two weeks ago by President Yoweri Museveni and replaced by his deputy Ochola. The President then appointed former Commander of the Military Police, Brig Sabiiti Muzeyi as the new deputy IGP.

A reliable source told this website the hand over ceremony will take place tomorrow at the Police Naguru headquarters. This was later confirmed by the Police spokesperson, SSP during a communication notifying the press about tomorrow’s handover event.

In the last few days, some media reports had already begun to speculate that the General was stalling the process.

Kale Kayihura has presided over the Uganda Police Force for the last thirteen years in a period that he has contended with pressure from several political protests that many say he dealt with using excessive force. During the same period, Police has each year recorded the highest number of human rights violations including torture.

It was however the most recent years of Kayihura’s tenure that would weigh heavily on him. The Police’s credibility further shrinked in equal measure with its ability to crackdown on crime.

Accusations both by the public and President Yoweri Museveni that the Police had been infiltrated by criminal elements became frequent and would culminate in arrests of several Senior Police officers charged with serious crimes.

Nonetheless, Kayihura will be remembered as having instituted some significant reforms including; an increased number of personnel, attempts to improve relations between citizens and police through community policing, building accommodation facilities for police officers and beefing up counter terrorism operations.

It was also during his term that Police constructed the magnificent headquarters in Naguru and mobilised to start a savings scheme for police officers.