Patel Kitbai, a Ugandan of Indian origin is in trouble for aiding illegal Indian immigrants to acquire passports and work permits. Kitabai was picked up on Friday last week at the Immigration Department by a team appointed by Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police to investigate corruption in the Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship control.
Police recovered five Ugandan passports from his house in Kireka, a Kampala suburb. Kitabai’s arrest on Friday came a day after Amrik Singh Nono; another Ugandan of Indian origin was arrested for alleged human trafficking. According to a source within the committee, members were surprised that Kitbai had managed to secure citizenship for other Indians.
Kitbai was released on police bond as investigations are ongoing. The officer, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the recovered passports are now a subject of investigations to establish how Kitbai got them, and with whom he was working. The source also told URN that the investigation team had also recovered registers and logo books that were being used in receipt and disbursement of passports.
Recently, Kayihura commissioned an investigation into activities of the Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship Control following a scathing report that exposed corruption and bribery and outright fraud there. The report authored by Lemmy Twinomugisha, the Deputy Director Crime Intelligence shows that corruption at the directorate manifests itself in form of forgery, extortion, theft and poor service delivery.
The report implicates officials of the Internal Affairs Ministry for using agents and dealers to process passports after receiving between 250,000 to 500,000 shillings instead of 82,000 shillings. The investigation team is expected to establish whether immigration staff has been following the laid down procedure in processing passports and work permits.
