{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Akullo’s powers cut, but can Kayihura arrest tide of crime?
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Akullo's powers cut, but can Kayihura arrest tide of crime?
Amid reports of simmering tensions between them, police chief Kale Kayihura has trimmed Grace Akullo's duties, with insiders hoping this will help arrest the tide of violent crime.
General Kayihura recently split the Akullo-headed Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID) into two – one for investigations and the other for intelligence collection. Akullo now heads the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CINVD), while deputy director Joel Aguma takes charge of the operations of the Criminal Intelligence Directorate (CINTD). Aguma will report to deputy Inspector General of Police Martin Okoth-Ochola who is overseeing CINTD.
In the last two years, Uganda has been rocked by murders, including those of at least 10 Muslim clerics, but the police chief has made more news for mourning the murdered than arresting the murderers. Following the recent murder of Sheikh Hassan Kirya, Kayihura declared that he was tired of apologising to the Muslim community whenever a cleric was murdered.
Police sources now say the split of CIID represents a shift in focus. Kayihura wants to prize intelligence to detect and prevent crime, instead of jumping in to investigate criminals who have mastered the art of covering their tracks. Insider sources say Akullo's five-year tenure as head of CIID has been dogged by weak crime intelligence, and Kayihura blames this for the increased murders.
"The work has been too much for her since in the two [investigations and intelligence], there are also other big departments like Forensic Laboratory Services, Special Investigations Division and CID administration, all reporting to her," a police source said.
"[We will now] have a strong intelligence directorate which deals with crimes on the ground and later reports to the criminal investigations directorate to probe."
Earlier this year, Kayihura wrote to the ministry of public service seeking to split CIID so as to bolster the intelligence directorate. The acting director for research and development in the ministry of public service, Joseph Kiggundu, confirmed they received Kayihura's request, which was approved by the permanent secretary.
"It's only the ministry of public service that has the mandate to restructure all government institutions in the country under the Public Service Act 2008," Kiggundu said.
According to one senior police officer, the split will eventually mean more personnel and a bigger budget for intelligence, going into such things as equipment, office space, and transport.
"However, the strengthening of this department will take about three years to deliver the efficient service delivery since the ministry of finance had not budgeted for it," a senior government official conversant with the matter told us last week.
When asked about the implications, police spokesman Fred Enanga said they would run the two directorates on the available budget, since they did not expect new recruitments.
"The people who have been working under intelligence will go to the directorate of intelligence and those who have been working under investigations will go to the investigations directorate," Enanga said.
Aguma emphasized the importance of detection of threats, when The Observer contacted him for a comment last week.
"We go on the ground like markets, streets, hospitals, institutions and other public places to detect people who may be a danger to public security," he told us. "After receiving information about them, we inform the investigations directorate to go ahead with the investigations," he said.
For her part, Akullo refused to comment on the developments in her directorate. But recently, she told parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is investigating the multi-billion pension scam, that her boss Kayihura has turned her into a suspect in a parallel investigation. This revelation seemed to lend credence to persistent reports of a strained relationship between Kayihura and Akullo.
CHALLENGE AHEAD
However, police sources say Kayihura will have to do more than splitting CIID if he is to get better crime-averting intelligence. They said that for the most part, police was relying on ill-suited, ill-equipped, ill-funded spies.
"Intelligence is not in police. It's with people. You buy information from people in order to make proper investigations," said a senior police officer this week. "In order to have good intelligence, you must invest a lot in informers on the ground."
This officer explained that the few times police has foiled attempted crimes, it has had to buy information. For instance, the source said, one informant or potential informant may know of a plot to commit a crime; that person will inform the authorities if there is a good reward.
"But when you are not ready to give them money for their intelligence, the robbers just go ahead with plans and then investigations occur after robbery," a source said.
Sources also pointed out the police's lack of modern gadgets such as smart phones, recorders, modern software, computers, internet, laboratories, vehicles, and clothes that can be used for spying missions without the spies being detected. This could mean that until the Criminal Intelligence Directorate can get, train, equip and fund high-quality spies, the split may not necessarily make us any safer.
zurah@observer.ug
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