Prime
UPDF commander to head police crime unit
Lt Col Atwooki Ndahura Birakurataki
What you need to know:
Urgent. IGP Kale Kayihura said Lt Col Atwooki Ndahura Birakurataki’s appointment took immediate effect.
Kampala. Former commander in the Presidential Protection Unit (PPU), now Special Forces Command (SFC), Lt Col Atwooki Ndahura Birakurataki, has been appointed head of the police Directorate of Crime Intelligence.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Gen Kale Kayihura, announced Lt Col Ndahura’s appointment in a message sent to all police units on Friday.
Gen Kayihura said the appointment took immediate effect.
The Police spokesman, Mr Fred Enanga, confirmed Lt Col Ndahura’s appointment and said his expertise will strengthen police intelligence capabilities.
“It is another development when we benefit from the expertise of our sister forces. We feel this appointment looked at the abilities and requirement the force needs,” Mr Enanga said.
Crime Intelligence Directorate was established in June after a spate of violent crimes, which pointed to lack of intelligence. It executes tasks the Special Branch used to carry out before it was dissolved.
On whether police did not have any competent police officer to fill up that position, Mr Enanga said there was no harm having a person from a sister agency overseeing the crime docket since they all work for the same cause.
Other army officers in police
Lt Col Ndahura is the fifth military officer since 2000, to be posted to top position in the police after Gen Katumba Wamala (former IGP), Gen. Kayihura (current IGP), Brig Elly Kayanja (former head of Operation Wembley, an anti-robbery squad), and Maj Leni Mugalu (head of the Forensic Unit).
In his new position, Lt Col Ndahura will be deputised by Detective Assistant Commissioner of Police, Joel Aguma, who was appointed recently after two years of suspension for illegally extraditing Lt Joel Mutabazi, a former bodyguard of Rwanda President Paul Kagame, back to Kigali in October 2013.
Who is Lt Col Atwooki Ndahura?
Lt Col Ndahura has been the chief of planning in the East African Standby Force.
In 2001, Lt Col Ndahura, then a captain in the presidential guard brigade, was accused of orchestrating election violence in Rukungiri District against Opposition supporters of Dr Kizza Besigye, who was contesting against President Museveni in that year’s general election. Lt Col Ndahura was also accused of fomenting violence against Kinkizi West constituency candidate, Mr James Garuga Musinguzi, when he was contesting against Mr Amama Mbabazi, former prime minister and now an Independent presidential aspirant for 2016.
Lt Col Ndahura’s name featured in various affidavits of witnesses during the hearing of Dr Besigye’s election petition in the Supreme Court as having commanded soldiers to beat and shoot at voters in Rukungiri.
In Dr Besigye’s interview ran between July 27 and 29, 2009, in the Observer newspaper, he said Lt Col Ndahura, who was the commander of the then PPU, was behind the killing of John Baronda in Rukungiri District, and that the army after that incident, promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel.
Lt Col Ndahura sued Dr Besigye, claiming the utterances were false and malicious.
However, the case was dismissed early this year after Lt Col Ndahura failed to appear or send his lawyers to prosecute the case.
