Police Director Bangirana dragged to court for refusing to vacate office

The Police Director in charge of Engineering and Logistics, AIGP Godfrey Bangirana has been dragged to court for refusing to vacate office after expiry of his contract.

In a suit where the Attorney General has also been listed as a respondent, Isaac Maddo,  who addresses himself as a Ugandan of sound mind says Bangirana’s continued stay in office after expiry of his term is illegal and unlawful that court needs to order for his vacation.

“The continued receipt of salary and emoluments by the second defendant (Bangirana) while in office is unlawful and a wastage of government resources and court should order him to refund all the emoluments received after the expiry of his contract,” Maddo says in his suit.

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Following the expiry of Bangirana’s contract in July 2019, the Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola ordered him to hand over keys and vacate office but the Internal Affairs Permanent Secretary asked him to stay in office until a decision by the Police council in regards his contract is announced.

However, in his suit, Maddo says failure by the Attorney General to advise the Permanent Secretary on his directive to Bangirana was illegal.

“The actions by the Attorney General by failing to advise the Permanent Secretary and other government organs in regards the matter constituted a breach of his duty to government and the public.”

“The second respondent’s continued stay in office is unlawful and illegal and this suit is brought to vindicate the rule of law and get the unlawful conduct stopped.”

In his suit, Maddo wants court to order for AIGP Bangirana’s vacation of office on top of refunding all the salary and emoluments received since the expiry of his contract.

Problems

Bangirana’s problems started when he was accused of inflating prices of police supplies in a bid to eat something out of their procurement.

A concerned citizen last year petitioned the Inspector General of Government (IGG) to carry out investigations into a number of deals in the police force under AIGP Godfrey Bangirana, the director in charge of logistics among others including the deal to repair the forces’ chopper in which he was accused of inflating the cost.

The police force had officially been handed the BELL 206B seven-seater chopper made in the US by Yamasec Security Limited, a company that had done refurbishment on the chopper that had been grounded for over 10 years.

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During the function to launch it, the refurbished chopper on two occasions failed to start prompting engineers to rush to fix the problem until it, at last, hovered in the skies.

In an August 24, 2018 letter to the IGG and received on 27, a concerned citizen tasked the IGG to look into a number of procurement deals in the Police force overseen by AIGP Bangirana as the director in charge of logistics for the force.

“He has superintended over gross procurement flaws that have not only affected the police force but also the various suppliers who have various contracts with the force,” read in part, the concerned citizen’s letter.

The whistleblower also asked the IGG to look into the construction of Nateete police station which he said has been quoted to have cost shs100bn yet on its ‘face value’ it does not seem to cost more than shs20 billion.

It was also alleged that Bangirana had caused accumulation of debts in excess of Shs100b in the police arising from goods and service the suppliers provided and presided over  supply of police fuel to private individuals causing a financial loss of Shs200b to the force.

The IGG last year confirmed investigations into Bangirana’s illicit wealth were ongoing.