The Kamwenge town Godfrey Byamukama, who was in prison in 2017 and faced torture by the Police after being charged with participation in the gruesome murder of AIGP ‘Andrew Felix Kaweesi’, was rewarded by the police staff with shgs1.4 billion as compensation for the torture he faced.
Byamukama, who came to Kampala to manage his private business and Police Flying Squad, arrested him, bundled him into a waiting drone van and imprisoned him at Nalufenya police station, which had been christened as a nightmare room due to accounts by a number of suspects imprisoned at the facility.
Horrible images of his tortures are made around all over the social media platforms in which his body was fully marked of the suffering of the Kamwenge mayor, attracting censure from members of the public.
The four police officers, in which D/ASP Patrick Muramira, D/ASP Fred Tumuhairwe, Habib Roma and Ben Odeke, were indicted before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court and charged with torture. However, they were released from jail on bail.
While speaking during a workshop for Regional Police Commanders at Police headquarters on Thursday, the Director of Police in charge of Human Rights and Legal Services, AIGP Erasmus Twaruhukwa, stated that the administration was sued him for violating Byamukama’s rights in a civil suit, further adding that having realized there was so much proof against them, they settled the matter out of court.
According to AIGP Twaruhukwa that “We decided to sort out this matter out of court only because we knew we would not going to win because there are so many videos already viral on social media platforms, so we decided to give him an shs1.4 billion as compensate. We need to pay shs8 billion that they(Byamukama) had asked for,” AIGP.
“We decided to sort out the matter out of court, and they settled shs1.4 billion. It(shs1.4bn) might look like money, but it is not, compared to the shs8 billion they had asked for.”
As per the police director, the Police could alleviate many cases and add that this should be completed when officers stick to what the Police and the constitution provides.
“We should have a situation where there is no torment and no imprisonment beyond 48 hours.”
He also warned that strict action should be taken against those police officers who make government loses money should take strict action against them. These cases increased because people attempted crimes with impunity and knew the Attorney general would negotiate with them. The officer who was included in this should pay a percentile of the award, & maybe we shall learn to do the right thing.”
