No Man’s Land: Three DPCs Disown Komamboga After Bomb Blast

IGP John Martins Okoth Ochola

The team instituted by the Inspector General of Police, Martin Ochola, to investigate circumstances under which Digida pork joint that was a few days ago attacked by alleged terrorists was operating past curfew time has claimed that all the three policing divisions have disowned the area.

An Improvised Explosive Device -IED went off at Komamboga last Saturday at  9pm which was two hours into the curfew that starts at 7pm. The place was packed to full capacity, something that triggered Ochola to order for a probe to establish which police commander was protecting the area.

It seems that the security officers from the country’s different forces have always been aware of Komamboga’s status lacuna, hence their frequenting the place late into the night to openly break the law by violating the curfew and all the Covid-19 prevention guidelines.

Now information Uganda Radio Network –URN has received indicates that all the three nearby Division Police Commanders –DPCs who were hitherto thought to be (the probable commanders) in charge of Komamboga have disowned the area.

“Kawempe DPC says she is not incharge of Kwata zone where the bomb exploded, Kasangati DPC says his jurisdiction does not reach Komamboga and Kira Division also insists the place attacked is in not in their policing are,” an officer close to the probe said. “It is now difficult to zero in on a particular DPC to hold him or her responsible.”

And thus Kombamboga becomes an inland no man’s land, a phenomenon only thought to exist at international borders. Now an oversight in security mapping apparently created one inside the Kampala Metropolitan Policing Area.

Kawempe division is commanded by Superintendent of Police –SP Alice Kuka, Kasangati division is commanded by SP Frantile Lwamusai while one of the commanders of Kira Division is under Abbas Ssenyondo.

Commissioner of Police Fred Enanga explains that it is too early to accuse any of the commanders from Kawempe, Kasangati and Kira Division since they all have a portion they respond to in Komamboga.

Enanga is optimistic that Ochola’s team will be able to establish the exact commander who should be in charge of Komamboga and he or she will be held responsible for allowing the place operate in disregard of Covid-19 guidelines that include curfew enforcement and the reckless crowding at Digida even before or curfew time.

“The whole incident of Komamboga is being reviewed administratively and also in regard to our responses as well,” Enanga said. “There is a team that was constituted by the IGP that is reviewing our responses. What is interesting is that there are different policing divisions, almost three of them. You talk of Kira, you talk of Kawempe and Kasangati, they all respond to that same place. What is important is that once we find that there are police officers who didn’t respond appropriately or who have been giving protection to the eating points at Komamboga, all that is going to come out in the investigation.”

Enanga’s explanation perfectly fits in well with the old adage that everybody’s responsibility is nobody’s responsibility. And that is Komamboga’s fate in policing terms. The security officers and many civilians who have been frequenting Digida during curfew hours must have known and exploited this, until the terrorist bomber decided to interrupt their lawlessness. One of the obvious findings the IGP’s team will inform the public and probably to the President about is who has been deploying armed police teams to guard at Digida while reveling and curfew violating went on for so long.

Another obstacle URN  understands that is making the team probing the DPCs’ negligence that made possible the attack is the fact that the (probable) area commanders are biological children of currently very senior serving or retired police officers. One of the commanders is said to be a daughter to Assistant Inspector General of Police –AIGP who is still serving while another is a son of a recently retired Commissioner of Police.

URN also understands that the commanders of Kawempe, Kasangati and Kira Division have denied deploying two Police Patrol vehicles that have been guarding the area as security bigwigs enjoyed pork and all sorts of drinks up to midnight hours.

The DPCs deny deploying the the police personnel, patrol vehicles and other equipment that has for long been used to Protect those violating the presidential directives and ministry of health guidelines by deploying them at the crowded Digida joint under curfew, saying they must have been deployed by KMP headquarters.

At least one female victim identified as Emilly Nyinaneza died in the explosion while three others survived with injuries. Security says the attackers are remnants of Allied Democratic Forces –ADF even though Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility.