Govt doesn't know whereabouts of 31 missing people -Minister Odongo tells parliament

The Minister for Internal Affairs, Gen.Jeje Odongo has said government doesn’t know the whereabouts of 31 people who are still missing.

There have been several reports of several people, especially opposition supporters whose whereabouts are not known after being picked by suspected security personnel driving numberless drone vehicles from several parts of the country.

Relatives to many of these victims have reported cases of missing persons.

Giving a statement on the missing people, the minister said some of the people who had been reported missing have since been found.

“On the alleged kidnap of Lumu Ronald, Kabaale Benard, Mugarura Ronald and Shafik, the above were not kidnapped. They were arrested for aiding and abetting terrorism. They were logged as SID GtiF 196/2020. The suspects were interviewed, they recorded statements and were released on bond on January,6,”Odongo told parliament.

The minister said that investigations are continuing in a case of eight people kidnapped by men donning army uniforms traveling in a vehicle without number plates.

According to Odongo, some of the people reported missing had not been kidnaped but rather arrested whereas others who had been missing have later resurfaced.

31 people still missing

The Internal Affairs Minister told parliament that investigations have found out that a total of 44 people have allegedly been kidnapped, noting that the whereabouts of 31 of these are still not yet known.

"Thirty-one missing people are yet to be traced. I have tried to give an update on the continued incidents of alleged kidnap. Investigations are ongoing and I undertake to give an update on the progress of these investigations with time,"Odongo said.

On Monday, the deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj.Gen.Paul Lokech said he had directed the CID Director AIGP Grace Akullo and her Crime Intelligence counterpart, AIGP Chris Serunjoji Damulira to investigate the matter and report back to him.

“I have instructed our people, the Director of CID and the Director of Crime Intelligence to give me the list of anybody who has been arrested and is in the cells of any of our security agencies,”Lokech said.

The Internal Affairs Minister, Gen Jeje Odongo and the Inspector General of Police, John Martins Okoth Ochola last week found a hard time answering questions from journalists about the whereabouts of the people arrested by security.

Whereas the minister asked journalists to be specific on the names of the missing persons and details regarding the place and dates when they were abducted, some of these were provided but he didn’t have definite answers and referred the media to the CID Director, AIGP Grace Akullo who was also in attendance.

For IGP Ochola responded by asking journalists whether the relatives of the missing persons had reported cases at the respective police stations and whether they had been given case reference numbers.