Policemen display wealth

Aug 15, 2003

A group of policemen on night patrol vehicle reg. UP 0543 left many people laughing and others angry when they openly bragged about being one of the richest arm of government

By Alex Balimwikungu

A group of policemen on night patrol vehicle reg. UP 0543 left many people laughing and others angry when they openly bragged about being one of the richest arm of government.

The incident happened last Saturday after they pursued driver of a Toyota Levin at the Wandegeya traffic lights. The youthful driver had allegedly run over a police roadblock in Mpererwe, 5km away.

“Young man, the police is not poor. We have enough fuel to chase you, until your fuel tank runs dry. Even if it means driving up to the Kenya border to catch people like you, we can do and it,” an officer said, dragging the youthful guy out of the vehicle.

The commotion attracted a crowd.

“We are not as poor as you think. Even though you may see us staying out in the cold we are just serving the nation,” he said, momentarily pausing to ‘talk’ on a Nokia 2100, valued at sh310,000 on the open market. A quick scan around showed all of them had mobile phones.

Sarcastically, the crowd urged him to accept kitu kidogo (bribe) and let the driver go. This triggered him into action. He fished for is wallet and pulled out a bundle of crisp sh20,000 notes on top of flashing two ATM cards of Standard Chartered Bank and Crane bank. “we have money,” he said.

The careless driver was later taken to Wandegeya Police Station.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});