While the public is still frenzied about the whereabouts Police boss Kale Kayihura, with tabloids reporting that he is gravely ill in India, while police maintains he is on duty in Turkey, work must go on and the man running things is his deputy Okoth Ochola.
Apart from representing his boss on national events like the State of The Nation address and budget reading, Ochola is proving not just a figurehead but implementing some decisions that are bound to change the way the police works.
The latest is that he has signed off a directive that cops will individually foot court awards arising out of their actions in case an aggrieved party sues and court awards financial compensation for damages.
This directive arises from government’s decision to decentralise payment of court awards to the institutions where they accrue instead of the Attorney General’s office.
The decision was reached in order to manage the awards better as the Attorney General’s office has not been efficient in remitting the awards to the beneficiaries, but also to hold government departments that lead to the court awards accountable.
“This implies that where the actions of Police Officers lead court to give awards and/or compensation to victims, payment shall be borne by Uganda Police,” Ochola wrote in a circular to police officers.
He went ahead to say that police as an institution will not meet the costs of the damages, but individual officers who led to court awarding the compensation.
“Officers will be personally held accountable for their actions leading to court awards against police,” he said.
Question is, will the officers, most of whom earn peanuts be able to foot bills arising out of their actions while on duty? In some cases, court awards victims hundreds of millions, which most policemen never dream of earning.
It only means the directive will make them less overzealous in carrying out their duties. Now if the Nalufenya torture victims sue and court awards them compensation for damages, it means individual cops will have to pay them, which means cops will definitely change the way they work because of this directive.