Scandal-hit former CID boss Bakiza died a changed man  

The former Director of Criminal Investigations Directorate Chris Bakiza, died at the weekend.

Bakiza, 69, died of cancer at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Saturday, his surviving family members said.

While his friends and village mates praise him for his attributes, his death has attracted a dig up of his deeds while he was in the police force.

Bakiza was born in Mushenyi B Village, Butanda Sub-county in Kabale District.

The Kabale District Vice Chairperson and a sister of Bakiza, Ms Miria Tugume Akankwasa, said he started schooling in Kabale and completed his primary education at Rukore Primary School.

After getting good grades, he joined Kigezi College Butobere where he sat for his Uganda Certificate of Education exams.

He performed well and then joined Namilyango College School and sat for the

 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education exams. Thereafter, he joined Makerere University where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in Law.

After attaining a practicing certificate at the Uganda Law Development Centre, he was fortunate when an opening in the police emerged.

According to the former Director of CID, Mr Herbert Karugaba, the Public Service ministry announced the recruitment of graduates in the police.

“After the overthrow of Idi Amin as the President of Uganda, many police officers had been killed and there was a big gap. Public Service wanted 30 graduates and we applied. Only 26 of us reported at Public Service headquarters at Wandegeya,” Mr Karugaba said.

Bakiza and 25 others including Mr Karugaba, Maj Gen (Rtd) Jim Muhwezi, now minister of Security, and Gen (Rtd) David Sejusa, were kept at Naguru Police College for two weeks as they processed their passports.

“We were very young, idealistic and energetic,” Mr Karugaba said.

“We travelled to Chuo Kuu Chaa Poliis in Dar-el-Salam, Tanzania where we were trained for nine months and returned a few months to the general elections in Uganda in October 1980,” Mr Karugaba said.

Upon return as police cadets, Mr Daniel Nadumba, who was among the officers, said he and Bakiza were deployed in Moroto District.

“Chris was the Officer-in-Charge of Station while I was the Officer-in-charge of Barracks and welfare. After six months, he was transferred to the CID headquarters. I was also posted to Lira as the District Commander, but we continued being in touch,” Mr Nadumba said.

Mr Karugaba said when the then presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni went to the bush, his and Bakiza’s lives turned for the worse.

“Officers who hail from the west were seen as potential rebels. Two of our cadets (Muhwezi and Sejusa) had joined the rebels so I and Chris was being watched with keen eyes,” Mr Karugaba said.

They were deployed in positions where they could be monitored well, but they were not promoted even after they had been confirmed as Assistant Superintendent of Police due to the same reasons, he said.

Although Bakiza didn’t have big ranks, he was given good roles at CID headquarters, which was located at Impala House in Kampala City.

In May 17, 1985, an incident dented a terrible image on Bakiza’s record with the police. While driving with his fiancée Salvatoris Mbabazi from a wedding eve party near the Law Development Centre, he allegedly fell in an ambush where their car registration number UXH 146, was rained with bullets.

Mbabazi, whom he was about to wed, was shot dead.

Three suspects, including two police officers and a soldier, were arrested on murder charges days after, according to police records.

The then OC CID Wandegeya, Emmanuel Kiiza told a Commission of Inquiry into corruption in the police force years later, that the murder incident puzzled them as the shooter shot 10 bullets on the side of the driver when Bakiza was but he wasn’t injured at all. But Mbabazi, who was seated on the passenger side, died.

Mr Kiiza said during the investigations, the file was recalled to the CID headquarters despite his protest.

A retired officer Pauline Bangirana told the Commission that the murder files at both the police and court disappeared without trace.

On July 9, 1988, Bakiza married Esther, which caused disharmony with the relatives of his deceased fiancée.

When President Museveni took power, Bakiza got relief.  He was deployed in the Bank of Uganda as the OC security.

In 1989, he was promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Police, skipping two ranks.

Mr Nadumba said the rapid promotion of some officers raised issues on the yardstick used.

By 1991, Bakiza got more juicy tasks in the police. As the secretary of the Police Welfare Association, he is alleged to have awarded his company, Brevans Enterprises Ltd a tender to supply police ceremonial uniforms.

In one of the deals, Benon Kashaka claimed to have lent Shs16m to Brevans Enterprises Ltd, but they failed to pay. Kashaka told the Commission of Inquiry nine years later that his attempts to demand the money attracted threats from Bakiza.

However, Bakiza was praised for having started the empowerment of the saving culture in the police force. He also argued for the government to give loans free of interest to police officers to have side income.  Despite the allegations, he was appointed Director of Operations of the police and again promoted to the rank of Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, which was the third highest level in the police.

In the mid-1990s, he was appointed the Director of CID, a position that exposed his dark side and led to his resignation in the police after his dirt was exposed during the Commission of Inquiry.

In one incident, Bakiza was accused of defying orders of the then Inspector General of Police Cossy Odomel, who had ordered the prosecution of police officers alleged to have been involved in a robbery at Rubaga Road on November 11, 1997.

Inspector of Police John Baptist Kasango and others had been accused of conniving with certain individuals  to rob money and gold from a Congolese man. On learning about the issue, Mr Odomel ordered an investigation and prosecution of the officers.

In an August 3 letter to Mr Odomel in 1998, Bakiza wrote, “First, it sets the precedent that the office of the IGP has become the prosecution authority. Please, avail yourself of the opportunity of referring to the relevant provisions of the Constitution.”

The case caused frosty relationships between senior police officers who once were in the same intake and it also led President Museveni to order a Commission of Inquiry into corruption in the police force two years later.

Several other cases against Bakiza were brought up in the Commission.

The Commission concluded that “findings in regard to Mr Chris Bakiza, the Director CID have been shocking. He has been implicated in cases of bribery and corruption; he has been implicated in colluding with criminals and gangsters and in one unfortunate case, he has been implicated in the murder of his former fiancée, one Mbabazi, who was murdered by unknown gunmen in mysterious circumstances in Bakiza’s presence.”

During the Commission’s investigations, Bakiza was sent on forced leave, which prompted him to leave the police force later. He returned to legal practice and teaching in 2000. During his private legal practice, Bakiza turned to God, according to Ms Akankwasa.