The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A senior police officer has been arrested on allegations of leaking a Whatsapp message of Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Commissioner of Police-CP Moses Kafeero to commanders.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ali Lwetunga was arrested on orders of CP Kafeero after it was alleged that it was him who leaked the message that made rounds on Thursday on social media.
Lwetunga, who is the Officer in Charge –OC Wamala police post under Nansana Municipality, Wakiso district is currently detained at Kampala Central Police Station –CPS waiting to appear in Police court.
In a leaked Whatsapp communication, CP Kafeero was warning commanders not to allow vehicles moving without stickers from the Works Ministry. Kafeero said that commanders of areas where vehicles would be seen moving freely will be arrested because he was tired of answering questions on their behalf.
“If a private vehicle is seen moving in an area, the commander will have to be arrested. Enough is enough. Why do you let them? We have warned you enough. I cannot keep answering questions on your behalf,” Kafeero told commanders.
President Yoweri Museveni banned the movement of private cars after it was established that they were being used to exorbitantly charge people moving to upcountry places. The ban on the private vehicle came four days after Museveni had stopped movement by public means such as buses, taxis, boda-boda, Tuk-Tuk and mini-buses. This was intended to curtail the transfer of Covid-19 from one place to another.
Superintendent of Police, SP Patrick Onyango, also Kampala Metropolitan police confirmed ASP Lwetunga’s arrest. Onyango, however declined to reveal how it was established that it was ASP Lwetunga who had leaked the message.
“Yes, there is a police officer who violated the oath of secrecy and linked internal communications to the public. He has been arrested,” Onyango said.
CP Kafeero has since ordered Regional Police Commanders –RPCs to arrest any commander where a private vehicle is seen moving in his or her area of operation. He indicated that some people were to lose jobs due to Covid-19 mismanagement.
“H.E the President was very clear (unless the private vehicle is carrying a medical emergency). Others to move are only cars with stickers from the ministry of works and the security vehicles with command,” CP Kafeero further informed commanders.
Although Museveni had allowed private vehicles to move with only three people including the driver, information was received that they had been turned into taxis ferrying people to places such as Jinja, Masaka, Mityana, and Luweero at a fare of 30,000 to 60,000 shillings.
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