Dickson Mwesigye, the officer in charge of Kyabakuza police post in Masaka district, has been removed from office for alleged corruption and drunkenness leading to the escalation of crime in the area.
Mwesigye was removed from office on Monday by Andrew Sorowen, the Police Director of Special Duties. He was replaced by Alex Owiny. Sorowen announced the removal of Mwesigye in a crisis meeting he convened with residents at Kyabakuza trading center following numerous complaints.
The residents accused Mwesigye of mismanaging cases noting that he spends most of his time drinking. Kamadda Magezi, Boringo Lubega and Julius Oganga Juma accused Mwesigye of conniving with local leaders to frustrate investigations.
Lubega told Sorowen that during the day Mwesigye spends several hours drinking Malwa at Buyinja drinking point together with their LC1 chairman, Kimera Mawanda.
He said that recently he was robbed of his merchandise but Mwesigye only stopped at recording his statement. Julius Juma Oganga, another resident of Kyabakuza accuses Mwesigye of releasing key suspects implicated in boda boda robbery and burglary. Oganga claims that they often arrest suspects and hand them over to police only for Mwesigye to release them unconditionally on grounds that there is no evidence. Oganga says that with Mwesigye still OC Kyabakuza, their lives are in danger.
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Francis Ssenoga, a trader told Sorowen that because of Mwesigye’s involvement in drinking, insecurity has escalated in their area which has led to several cases of burglary. He says that the problem has been worsened by increased power outages in the area.
He explained that thieves broke into his shop last week, and made off with his merchandise worth millions of shillings. As a result, Sorowen immediately ordered the removal of Mwesigye from office to pave way for investigations into his conduct.
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Mwesigye has not commented on the accusations labeled against him as he didn’t attend the security meeting convened by Sorowen. But Ali Matovu and Kimera Mawanda, who were accused of conniving with Mwesigye to frustrate investigations, have denied the allegations. Both Mawanda and Matovu claim to be the LC1 chairpersons of Kyabakuza A village.
Kimera claims that his rival Matovu stops residents from attending village security meetings, a charge the latter vehemently denies. He instead insists that Kimera is not mandated to convene any security meeting because he is not the LC1 chairperson.
