IGP Ochola Fires General Lokekech’s Man Days After Embarrassing Appearance Before Parliament

The Inspector General of Police fired the force’s Director of ICT and mysteriously replaced him with a predecessor fired over General Edward Katumba Wamala’s assassination attempt.

SCP Yusuf Ssewanyana has until last week been at the helm of the ICT Directorate at Nagulu but has been relieved of his duties and ultimately replaced with Felix Baryamwisiki, the man he replaced less than two years ago.

Baryamwiski was fired by fallen AIGP Maj Gen. Paul Lokech over gaps in the management of the CCTV Camera department in the wake of an attempt on the life of Works Minister General Katumba Wamala that left his daughter and driver dead in July 2021.

Ssewanyana’s firing came just days after appearing before parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee to explain the poor quality of footage and questionable reliability of the security CCTV Cameras procured by the force.

Confirming the MPs’ concerns over the dependability of the cameras to help in mitigating crime over quality issues, Ssewanyana indicated that there were indeed reservations that the cameras could entirely be relied upon after confirming that the quality of their footage are vulnerable to weather changes, necessitating periodic maintenance.

Ssewanyana and others had accompanied the Internal Affairs junior Minister, General David Muhoozi to defend a Shs 26 billion supplementary budget for the maintenance of CCTV cameras across the country. This was, however, resultantly rejected by the MPs.

Erute South MP, Jonathan Odur referred to some of the camera’s as “dummies, supporting to MP Rosemary Nakikongoro concerns over the dependability of the cameras after a police officer was murdered by assailants near a police CCTV camera.

Members also underlined the need for a complete overhaul if the CCTV camera project before more money can be disbursed for the same.