Godfrey Galabuzi Musisi, a man once convicted by court martial over accusations of attempting to assassinate President Museveni has accused police operatives of offering him Shs1billion to implicate security minister Gen Henry Tumukunde in the killing of Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi.
Galabuzi is one of the people that had been arrested over the killing of former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi.
Galabuzi alongside four other suspects including, Friday Benard, George William Kimbugwe, Stuart Ainebyona and Grace Kayiwa Nankya have dragged government to courts of law for torturing them following their arrest and detention in the Jinja based Nalufenya detention facility.
According to Pt Galabuzi interrogators offered him Shs 1Billion asking him to pin Lt Gen Tumukunde in the murder of former police spokesman AIGP Kaweesi.
By doing this, the investigators assured Pte Galabuzi that he would be a free man to go and enjoy his money.
The five are being represented by Mr Ladislas Rwakafuzi a human rights lawyer.
Pte Galabuzi in his affidavit says that he was arrested but was never informed of the reason of arrest until late night when he and others were told that they had participated in the murder of Andrew Felix Kaweesi.
The affidavit states in part that: “Interrogators offered (Pte Galabuzi) Musisi a deal in which he would regain his freedom and Shs1bn if he testified to the effect that he was approached by Lt. Gen. Tumukunde about March 2, 2017 to procure personnel that would assassinate IGP Kale Kayihira and the late Kaweesi.”
It is not clear why police investigators would pay suspects to blackmail the security minister although observers say it could be due to Gen Tumukunde’s critical remarks on police’s poor management of crime in the country.
Critical Tumukunde
While in Eastern Uganda recently, Gen Tumukunde criticized the police for what he described as “lacking command and control skills in crime detection and prevention” before recommending a refresher course for police commanders and senior officers.
Lt Gen Tumukunde made the remarks while addressing a security meeting for district police commanders, resident district commissioners and LC5 chairpersons in Teso sub-region.
Relatedly, Gen Tumukunde, while speaking at a Media and National Security dialogue ordered police to release innocent people they had arrested mistaking them for criminals and asked the force to apologise to the public.
Gen Tumukunde also told police that law enforcement officers should always “own up mistakes” instead of detaining suspects on account of what security officers have made the public to believe.