Police in Fort Portal has been tasked to
expedite an investigation into the sale of donated Mama Kits in a supermarket. Mama Kits labelled; “For Public Use, Not for Sale” were first seen in Good Home Supermarket in
Fort Portal, in March.
Subsequently, a Chinese national Zhao Long, the Manager of the supermarket was arrested after a whistleblower informed the Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition – RAC about the anomaly. Police led by the Kabarole District Police Commander John Faustine Oese, found
that indeed 10 kits were being sold each at 50,000 Shillings at the
supermarket.
Inside the kits was a cotton cloth (baby wrapper), a bar of White Star laundry
soap, a pair of gloves, a piece of cotton wool, small gauze, cord ligature, and a
meter of polythene sheet among other things. But Long was unable to explain the source of the kits that were suspected to have been
donated by a Non-Government Organization.
However, during a meeting on Wednesday, Kabarole Residents
District Commissioner Steven Asiimwe and Angela
Ssenabulya Byangwa, the Executive Director of Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition-RAC tasked the police to
give an update on the case. The meeting, that was held at the Kabarole district council chambers in
Kitumba, was attended by Fort Portal, Kabarole leaders and Police.
In the meeting, Julius Omage, the Officer-in-Charge of Economic Crimes at Fort Portal
Police Station, explained that Long’s file was taken to the Resident State
Attorney – RSA, Waswa Adams, who advised that before taking him to court, police
should first investigate how the kits were supplied to the supermarket.
Omage added that they have since looked for the supplier in vain and that Long
had to be released on bond as investigations continue.
//Cue in; “In a supermarket…
Cue out… him his money.”//
Asiimwe wondered why the need to first find the supplier of the kits yet they
were found in Long’s supermarket.
Byangwa said the need to find the supplier could be a trick to fail the process
of bringing Long to book. She also said that if the police had bothered, they
would have found the supplier because Long could be having the contacts and
even his supermarket is well equipped with surveillance cameras.
Asiimwe and Byangwa have told Omage that there is an urgent need for Long to be
taken to court because it is even not the first time that he is caught on the
wrong side of the law.
In June 2018, the then Officer in Charge of Criminal
Investigations Department at Fort Portal police station, Godliver Twinomugisha,
ordered for a temporary closure of the supermarket after founding it selling
expired goods.
