ANALYSIS: Kirumira murder

He also pointed out that part of the problem has been “intelligence staff that have been neglecting information from the public, unjustifiably labeling information sources as intelligence peddlers or not concluding investigations”.

He also added that the purge of the criminal and corrupt elements that had infiltrated the police is continuing.

“The Police force is being cleaned of them,” President Museveni said, “By the end of nine months from today, most of the elements of the smart and safe City will be in place. We can, then, scale down the reliance on human intelligence and human observation because the technical (the machine) means will be in place.”

CMI is taking lead on the investigations of the Kirumira murder. The military outfit is working closely with the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and Police.

Like the Kaweesi murder case also handled by CMI, ISO and police detectives, the Kirumira investigations had until recently largely focused on elements within police.

Insiders say the investigators have been hunting down police operatives that belonged to the defunct Flying Squad Unit (FSU). Several have been arrested and are being interrogated at Makindye Military Barracks in Kampala.

Kirumira severally accused operatives under this unit of being criminals. He also openly accused his bosses of conniving with criminals.

He recounted how, after arresting about 600 thieves in one day in 2012 from Kampala, his bosses were not pleased.

“The public was happy but my bosses who were conniving with these people were angry with me,” Kirumira would tell journalists.

His major fallout with police started when Kirumira was transferred to Buyende district as the DPC in 2017. He said another of his successful operations in 2016 occasioned a transfer that he opposed and instead announced his resignation from the police on social media.

Kirumira had become the most outspoken critic of Kayihura whom he blamed for putting criminals in charge of police operations. On top of openly criticising him, Kirumira celebrated the firing of Kayihura.

Disappointed that Kayihura’s successor Martins Okoth-Ochola did not like him much and publicly accused him of indiscipline, Kirumira took him on too.

“He is worse than Kayihura,” Kirumira said referring to Ochola, “The country will also not benefit because he only knows how to sit in office and draft draconian laws.”

Kirumira’s hero had been Kaweesi, who trained him at Kabalye Police Training Institute in Masindi before he was commissioned as a police constable in 2005. He had even named one of children after the fallen AIGP.

The police establishment fought back and at one point dispatched the Flying Squad Unit to forcefully arrest him. Apart from firing bullets and teargas at his home, the police plucked out his door when he locked himself in the house and finally arrested him.

The police establishment also slapped him with multiple charges. Specifically, the police court found Kirumira guilty of parading flying squad operatives to the media and declaring them as thieves, unlawfully arresting people and excessive use of authority. As a result, Kirumira was demoted from ASP to AIP.