On Saturday night, the life of outspoken Police Officer Muhammad Kirumira was abruptly brought to an end after he was gunned down by assassins. One might have said that the love for his country could have derived him into joining the Police Force in 2006 immediately after he attained a degree in Education from Kyambogo University.

It wasn’t long after Kirumira joined the force that he began to make a name for himself. He gained a reputation for having a no tolerance policy towards criminals in all areas he was posted. In areas such as Nansana, Nankulabye, and Kisenyi, Kirumira clamped hard on criminal activity.

In the course of doing his work, Kirumira did not only become an enemy of criminals but also for corrupt Police Officers who he never hesitated to castigate. Some said the zero-tolerance approach was what sowed the seeds of his later troubles.

Soon he started meeting barricades in his duty. For example, in 2014; he was suspended and charged for misuse of office while he was O.C Nansana. He later announced that he had quit Police and in the weeks that followed, it was in common to find him engaged in casual labor. “I find it difficult to sit in between gallows, you are pressed by a hard press on a rock, there is fire and there is a thorn above you. I can’t sacrifice myself beyond this unless the IGP and the Minister pronounce themselves on this matter.”

He was soon reinstated to the Police Force and sent for training in Jinja. In 2016, Kirumira was posted at Old Kampala Police Station from where he was soon transferred to Buyende as a District Police Commander. At the time, Kirumira said, the only reason he had been moved was that he was a threat to the criminals and corrupt Police Officers in his previous postings. His absence from Kampala attracted the president’s attention and he invited him for a talk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, Kirumira’s troubles with the Police were not over as they continued to file a set of new charges brought against him. He was found guilty of many of the charges but he chose to appeal. While at the height of his legal battles, Kirumira gave an impression that he knew there were people out to get him and on several occasions, he said he wasn't afraid to die. “When you speak you die when you keep quiet you die. Better speak and die when the message has reached the people. I act as a messiah. I am not shifting, I have a black gate on the left, pick me and take me to Nalufenya for speaking the true character of the current administration of the Police.”
Recently when the government started to clean up the Police Force, Kirumira was applauded by different government officials for his relentless fight against corruption in the Force. “When Muhammad Kirumira here said that there was something wrong with his establishment, people were wondering whether he hasn’t gone out with mine. But current events indicate that there was a probability he was right.” Said, Gen. Kahinda Otafiire – Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs. “If it is a trial it must be a public trial.” At the time of his resignation from Police, Kirumira was preparing to stand for Member of Parliament in his home constituency of Mawokota North in 2021. Muhammad Kirumira is survived by a wife and four children.