Police officers bicker over space in Nsambya barracks

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | There is bickering in Nsambya police barracks resulting from the allocation of space and housing to serving and retired police officers. A number of retired and serving police officers including former local council leaders are up in arms against their colleagues who have been allocated space by the new commandant, Assistant Commissioner of Police- ACP Amos Gumisiriza to set up temporary structures for accommodation and business.

The complainants accuse Gumisiriza of allocating space to his close confidants and loyalists. “He (ACP Gumisiriza) has brought in strangers and given them plots of land. They have put up structures but they do not sleep in the barracks. For us who have been living in this barracks, we are being evicted and denied space to set up our own structures yet we have nowhere to sleep,” one of the complainants said.

Police officers who fear being victimized have rallied behind civilians who have dragged Gumisiriza to the Commandants of the Professional Standards Unit-PSU, Commissioner of Police Sarah Kibwika. She has since notified ACP Gumisiriza about allegations leveled against him.

Some police officers and civilians told URN on condition of anonymity that complaints about the allocation of space were first brought to the attention of the now Senior Commissioner of Police-SCP Hadijah Namutebi when she was still commandant of the Nsambya based Very Important Persons Police Protection Unit (VIPPU) in 2021.

However, Namutebi who went on to replace Asan Kasingye as the Chief Political Commissar-CPC in Uganda Police Force said that as VIPPU commandant, she wasn’t responsible for the administration of barracks. She added that even now when she is director of CPC, barracks administration is still outside her jurisdiction.

“The barracks is under the director of the human resource and VIPPU is just a unit housed in the Barracks and it has nothing to do with the barracks administration. They only support one part of the security,” Namutebi said.

When URN visited Nsambya barracks, our reporter discovered that some of the contested spaces and units were allocated to the Inspector of Police Byamugisha and a Police Corporal who applied to Gumisiriza after identifying free space.

Byamugisha’s makeshift structure is just at the junction leading to St. Stephen’s Church while that of a Police Corporal, which is an aluminum-made kiosk is opposite the church. Another structure that has caused contention was being occupied by the former local council chairman, Kafuko who lost a case challenging his election victory.

It was allegedly allocated to him by now-retired AIGP Asan Kasingye. URN was also able to establish that some of the demolished structures had been set up by police officers without applying to the commandant in line with the guidelines. However, Gumisiriza says that some of the contested spaces and units were set up prior to his appointment in October last year. Gumisiriza explains that some police officers retired some years back but have continued occupying huts meant for serving police officers.

“We have police officers who retired and should have left these houses years back but they say they have nowhere to go. This barracks is big and some officers or their relatives just wake up in the morning and set up structures. You ask someone where he got permission and they have no answer,” Gumisiriza said.

URN saw a letter written on Monday last week directing police officers who had illegally set up makeshift structures to demolish them. Gumisiriza also directed some police officers who were erecting temporary buildings without his permission to put them down.

“Some civilians are bitter because I’m telling them to leave houses for police officers. How can I allow a civilian to occupy a house when my officers have nowhere to sleep? Even if you’re a police officer, you cannot just allocate yourself space or occupy a housing unit without the commandant’s knowledge. There must be order in the barracks,” Gumisiriza emphasized.

According to Gumisiriza, there are more than 15,000 people in Nsambya barracks with the majority being children and relatives of serving or retired police officers. On Tuesday, URN found a file containing the names of more than 30 police officers who had applied to the commandant for space to set up structures.

Gumisiriza had scheduled a meeting to listen to each one’s reasons for seeking space to erect a temporary building. Not only space and houses have sparked bickering in Nsambya police barracks but also unruly children of serving and retired police officers.

URN saw a senior police nurse in a verbal exchange with the children of police officers who have set up a washing bay in the vicinity of the health center. At the time the nurse who is at the rank of IP was involved in the verbal exchange with police officers’ children, they were washing a Premio vehicle.

“One of these vehicles is for a Commissioner who knows the importance of hygiene near a health facility. These children are big-headed and every day they wash vehicles from here. Water runs through the health facility premises,” a nurse was heard complaining.

A senior police officer said they gave up on the children of the police officers because they do not go to school and have all sorts of bad manners. Before setting up a washing bay at the health center, the implicated children were washing the vehicles of police officers in front of the administration building.

“When I ordered them to stop washing vehicles in front of the administration building, they shifted to the health center. I had put up barricades but the children and some police drivers removed them. I’m a Senior officer but some things are beyond me,” a senior police officer said when asked about the washing bay.

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URN