The newly appointed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola and his Deputy, Brigadier Sabiiti Muzeei have this morning appeared before the Parliament's Appointments Committee chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga for vetting.
The duo appeared alongside Gen. Elly Tumwine, the newly appointed Security Minister.
"The Speaker of Parliament received a communication from the President of the Republic of Uganda recommending the appointment of Gen. Elly Tumwine as Minister for Security and Okoth Ochola as Inspector General of Police and Brigadier Sabiiti Muzeei as Deputy Inpector General of Police respectively," reads a communication from Clerk to Parliament Jane Kibirige, to MPs sitting on the Appointments Committee.
According to the communication, Tumwine’s interface with the committee was first at 10:00am, followed by Ochola at 10:30am and Sabiiti at 11:00am.
The trio was appointed in their respective positions by President Yoweri Museveni in a Sunday 4th March surprise reshuffle in which he sacked long-serving Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura replacing him by his deputy, Okoth Ochola.
He also appointed Brigadier Sabiiti Muzeei who has been Commander of the Military Police as Deputy Inspector General of Police and General Tumwine as Security Minister replacing Lieutenant-General Henry Tumukunde. By press time, we had not received any information from the closed meeting.
However, if approved by the committee today, Ochola will become the first career police officer to head the force in 17 years. The last career officer to be IGP was John Kisembo who was replaced by General Katumba Wamala in April 2001. Katumba was replaced in 2005 by Kayihura, with the former being appointed Land Forces commander and later Chief of Defence Forces until last year when he was appointed State Minister for Works.
By press time, Gen. Tumwiine had finished interfacing with the committee.
