Traffic police officer arrested over Shs150,000 bribe

A senior traffic police officer in western region has been arrested for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Shs150,000 from a bus operator.

The officer was arrested by the Inspectorate of Government last week following a tipoff by one of the bus operators who had allegedly fallen victim to the officer.

The bus operator (names withheld by IGG for investigation purposes) is reported to have queried the officer’s action of levying the said amount of money in question against him yet it was not backed by law.

Ms Munira Ali, the IGG’s public relations officer, in a Friday telephone interview with this newspaper, said the traffic boss had been detained at the Kampala Central Police Station and would be produced in the Anti-Corruption Court. But a day later, Ms Ali said they had instead referred the case to the Police Standards Unit for disciplinary action.

In a related development, two more police officers were arrested in Kaberamaido District by the IGG about two weeks ago for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Shs100,000. According to Ms Ali, the officers were arrested for allegedly demanding the said money in exchange for releasing a suspect in their custody.

The two were given a police bond on Friday as investigations into their actions continue.
According to the East Africa Bribery Index of 2011 carried out by Transparency International, Uganda Police Force was found to be the most bribery-prone institution compared to other forces in the five East African Community partner states. The Uganda Police had 80.8 bribery index score followed by Burundian Police with a 75 index score.