Kampala, Uganda: The former spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Detective Assistant Superintendent of Police (D/ASP) Charles Twiine, is still missing four days after reportedly visiting Police Headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.
According to his wife, Ms Kate Kabagenyi, Twiine was summoned to meet the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on Wednesday but has not been seen since. His car remains parked at the premises, deepening fears about his whereabouts.
“Since morning, I have been at police headquarters. Each officer is telling me to talk to another. No one is giving me information where my husband is. We have evidence that he arrived and entered police headquarters. His personal car that he drove is still parked at police headquarters,” Ms Kabagenyi told journalists on Friday.
Before his disappearance, D/ASP Twiine had been serving as an investigation officer attached to Parliament, but Ms Kabagenyi said she also approached senior officers at Parliament for clarity and they denied being in knowledge of his whereabouts.
“They also told me that they don’t know where he is,” she said.
Internal police sources said Friday that Twiine was last seen on the second floor of the police headquarters, the floor that houses both the IGP and his deputy.
At around midday on the same day, he was allegedly seen being escorted out of the building by men in civilian clothes, believed to be operatives from a sister security agency. He has not been seen since.
Kabagenyi added that the family has since filed a case of a missing person at Kasangati Police Station to prompt an official investigation into his disappearance.
Efforts to obtain an official comment from Police Spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke were unsuccessful by press time.
Under Uganda Police Force Standing Orders, authorities are mandated to inform the next of kin if someone is in custody or handed over to another lawful agency. The person is also entitled to access by relatives and lawyers.
Twiine’s disappearance adds to a growing list of unresolved cases of enforced disappearances and abductions in Uganda, many of which have involved opposition supporters, activists, and even members of the armed forces.
In October 2017, seven police officers were abducted by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (now Defence Intelligence and Security) and held incommunicado for months, accused of illegally extraditing Rwandan refugees.
Among those arrested was the former IGP Gen Kale Kayihura, who was later released on bail and had his charges dropped last year before being retired from the army. The charges against the junior officers were dropped months later, after years on remand and movement restrictions.
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