Man jailed for masquerading as police officer

The Tororo Chief Magistrates Court has sentenced a man to 22 months in jail for impersonating a police commissioner.

Johnson Owere, 46, will serve his time at Morukatipe prison in Tororo district following his conviction after pleading guilty to the offense.

Appearing before Grade II Magistrate Okoth Olowo, Owere was charged on two counts. One was of impersonating a public officer contrary to Section 92[b] of the Penal Code Act.

The other charge was of unlawfully being in possession of a firearm in contravention to Section [a] [2] [e] of the Firearms Act without the permission of the internal affairs minister.

A machine operator, the convict is a resident of Kisugu central zone in Makindye division, Kampala.

According to the prosecution team led by Arap Malinga, Owere falsely presented himself as commissioner of police at Mulanda Police Post and acquired a gun under that identity.

This happened in Tororo district on December 23, 2015.

In court, he pleaded guilty to charges of impersonation but pleaded not guilty to the count of unlawful possession of a fire arm.

Prosecutor Malinga asked court to hand Owere a deterrent sentence since he had put the reputation of the Police Force at stake.

But the magistrate sentenced him to serve 22 months in prison for the first offence and remanded him until January 7, 2016 when the second count of unlawful possession of a firearm comes up for mention.

Owere was arrested on December 28 at his village home in Mulanda sub-county after he reportedly fired fire live bullets into the night air out of excitement under the influence of alcohol the day before.

Several arrests made

Owere being led to court. (Credit: Faustine Odeke)

The convicted man is a civilian staff who works with at the Uganda police force estate at Kasokosoko as a machine operator.

Two days before Christmas Day, he went to Mulanda Police Post where, under the guise of police commissioner, signed for an AK47 rifle loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition from Corporal Stanley Omasera.

But a few days later when he got drunk and fired shots into the air, his act of irresponsibility forced panicked residents to report the matter to the police - leading to his eventual arrest.

Upon his arrest, police led by DPC Robert Katuramu also recovered the firearm which he had kept with his 80-year-old mother Tereza Adikiny and father Onyango Alisi, who were also arrested.

The officer in charge of Mulanda Police Post IP John Maku and Sergeant Kale were immediately arrested while Corporal Omasera, who signed off the gun, is still at large.

Malaba regional police spokesperson Michael Odongo earlier said that on several times Owere has impersonated the police commissioner where he goes to police posts in the rural areas to sign for guns and motorcycles for travel whenever he comes to Tororo without the knowledge of the district police bosses.

Serial impersonator

It is understood the convict has also been extorting money from police officers with the promise of securing their promotions, transfers or cancelling of transfers.

He has also reportedly been ordering the release of suspects on police bond without the matter being forwarded to the district central police station.

The district officer in charge of traffic, Ogwal Kasule, admitted that Owere at one time promised to push for his promotion.