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	Editorial: Police Failed to Learn from Sebutinde Report The Observer June 1, 2009 http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3587:editorial-police-failed-to-learn-from-sebutinde-report&catid=35:editorial&Itemid=61 President Museveni was recently quoted as being dissatisfied with the Police handling of the sodomy allegations against Pastor Robert Kayanja. This followed reports that the Criminal Investigations Directorate had been too eager to clear the pastor of any wrong-doing and instead move against his accusers. Our view is that the bad publicity afflicting the CID as a result of this and other incidents would perhaps have been avoided if the Police authorities and government had taken Justice Julie Sebutinde’s recommendations more seriously. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Corruption in the Police Force headed by Justice Julie Sebutinde was appointed on April 23, 1999 to investigate allegations of widespread corruption in the Police Force. The probe unearthed a lot of crimes committed by senior Police officers and recommended tough measures against the culprits. However, instead of implementing its recommendations, most of the officers were retained in the Police Force, simply reshuffled or even promoted. Others left temporarily only to return in higher positions than those they had allegedly abused, at least according to Sebutinde. A case in point is that of Edward Ochom and Moses Sakira. They were both alleged to have committed serious offences that damaged their integrity and that of the Police in general. These offences included usurping the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and forging and altering of documents. The same officers were recently appointed to head the CID, with Ochom as Director and Sakira as his deputy. Did the appointing authority take into account the Sebutinde report before promoting these officers? Or could it be that they were cleared of the serious allegations made against them? A lot of taxpayers’ money was spent on this inquiry and so the government ought to have taken it seriously. The CID cannot command the respect it deserves when it is manned by people with questionable characters as if the Force is devoid of more disciplined officers whose integrity is beyond reproach. It doesn’t help matters to note that one of the predecessors of the current crop at the helm of CID, Elizabeth Kutesa, was found to have forged evidence against Dr. Kizza Besigye in the infamous rape trial. Is this what Ugandans deserve?
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