There is a heat at Naguru Police Headquarters after the contract of the current Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Ochola Martin Okoth nears expiring. This gets tenser because the Police as an institution is not yet ready to get his replacement or even entering talks with him for a contract extension.
It should be noted that, IGP Martin Ochola Okoth is serving his second term of three years given to per contract ever since he replaced Gen. Kale Kayihura on March 4, 2018. To make matters worse, it is being learnt that Ochola’s position is not yet known as of now.
Because the current IGP Martin Ochola has apparently not written to the Police Authority chaired by the Minister for Internal Affairs seeking a contract renewal. Additionally, he is supposed to be done within six months of the expiry of the reigning contract.
And very close sources at Naguru Police Headquarters intimate that, Ochola is not willing to renew his contract. And he did not cite reasons for this, but speculations have it that he may be tired of heading the institution. This is also manifested by his silence on renewing his contract unlike before the end of his first contract.
“When his first term of IGP was about to end on March 4, 2021, he wrote to the police authority in November 2020 expressing interest in having his contract renewed. Gen Jeje Odong (the then minister for Internal Affairs) forwarded his contract renewal application to the President and it was renewed. But this time he hasn’t done it yet,” a source revealed to this website.
As we were still wondering what the next move from Ochola could be, we were furthermore told that the IGP is looking at retirement. That he feels it is his time to go and retire, and that is why Naguru Police Headquarters are on fire currently.
Yesterday, Police spokesperson SCP Fred Enanga informed journalists that IGP’s contract is expiring on 4th March 2024. And he did not reveal anything more than that apart from revealing that to replace the IGP there will be nominating of names and forwarded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for consideration.
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It is worth remembering that, Ochola served as deputy to Gen. Kale Kayihura and he was elevated to IGP while Maj. Gen. Sabiiti was appointed his deputy on March 4, 2018. Then, Lt. Gen. Lokech had served as deputy to Ochola for only eight months at the time of his death in August 2021.
Additionally, President Yoweri Museveni chooses to award Ochola a third term of three years, he will be the second longest serving IGP in Uganda’s history after Gen Kayihura who held police top seat for over 12 years.
