This morning, Maj Gen Geoffrey Katsigazi Tumusiime, the deputy of Uganda’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), took over from Okoth Ochola who has retired from the force after 36 years of service.
The handover ceremony took place at Kampala’s police headquarters in Naguru.
On March 14, 2018, Ochola, 65, succeeded Gen. Kale Kayihura as IGP.
The Uganda Police contract with Ochola ended today, March 4, 2024.
By choosing not to extend Ochola’s contract, President Museveni opened the door for an internal selection procedure to choose his successor.
According to those close to the IGP, he has been updating his handover report for the previous few months.
Before taking on his current role, Ochola was the deputy IGP, filling in for IGP Kayihura, whom he succeeded.
Who is Okoth Ochola
Martin Okoth Ochola is a Ugandan police officer, who has been serving as the inspector general of police (IGP) of the Uganda Police Force, the highest rank in that branch of Uganda’s government, effective 4 March 2018.
He replaced General Kale Kayihura.
Immediately before his present assignment, Ochola served as the deputy inspector general of police, deputizing IGP Kayihura, the man he replaced.
Ochola was born on 19 September 1958, in Agumiti village, Mulanda sub-county, West Budama County, in Tororo District.
He attended Abweli Primary School, then Rock View Primary School and Kisoko Boys Primary School, where he sat his primary leaving examinations.
He attended Namilyango College, where he obtained his high school diploma.
He studied at Makerere University, the largest and oldest public university in Uganda, where he studied law.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1983. The following year, he obtained a postgraduate diploma in legal practice, from the Law Development Centre.
He went into private law practice, working as a legal assistant between October and December 1984, at the law firm of Owori and Company Advocates in Mbale Town, in the Eastern Region of Uganda.
He then relocated to Kampala, Uganda’s capital city, where he worked as a legal assistant in Kampala City Council for three years.
He joined the Uganda Police Force in January 1988 and started a nine-month basic training.
At that time, he was given the rank of a cadet assistant superintendent of police. Following that training, in February 1989, he was posted to Entebbe International Airport as the officer in charge of airport security.
From there, he served at Entebbe Police Station, Buganda Road Court, where he remained for three years.
He was then posted to police headquarters as the acting assistant commissioner of police in the legal department. He was promoted to superintendent of police and later to senior superintendent of police.
In May 2001, he was appointed the deputy director of criminal investigations and remained in that position for seven years.
In 2008, he was promoted to commissioner of police. That same year, he was confirmed as director of CID. In 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police.
In August 2011, President Yoweri Museveni appointed him the deputy inspector general of police;
Ochola served in that position until replacing Kale Kayihura as IGP and in turn deputizing Kayihura