Police in Mbale have commenced investigating circumstances under which two of its officers were poisoned leading to the death of one of them. Elgon Region Police spokesperson, Rogers Taitika has identified the deceased as AIP John Bosco Amenyi and the victim as Mark Patrick Komakech (40), a driver of a police patrol.
It is alleged that on June 28, the deceased and several other police officers while on duty at Busiu Town Council in Mbale District went for supper at a place yet to be established within the same town where they must have been poisoned from.
“Amenyi, the deceased and Komakech the victim ordered for food while other officers they were with asked for chapats. It’s alleged that the food orders for the deceased and the driver who is also under critical conditions were delayed to be delivered which raised some questions from the officers but went ahead and ate,” Taitika reports.
He added: “The duo however after supper, continued to work up to the following day of June 29, but at around 9:00am, the deceased started feeling stomach ache and feverish which prompted him to go to Elgon Laboratory for a medical check-up. He was however administered with a Malaria treatment.”
It is reported that the driver went back for duty with other officers with whom they had worked at night but at around mid-day, he also started feeling similar symptoms like for the deceased.
“He was immediately rushed to Busiu Health Centre IV for treatment. He later started experiencing diarrhoea which prompted his colleagues to drive him back to Police Health Centre III to be managed from within.
At around 4:30pm, the condition of the deceased worsened and he was rushed to Mbale Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
He had been attached to Field Force Unit (FFU) and he has served the force since 1996. The Elgon Police mouthpiece SP Rogers Taitika described him as a disciplined officer who served the force diligently.
The deceased’s body has been conveyed at Mulago National Referral Hospital for Post-mortem while the driver Komakech Patrick is also being treated at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.
This incident comes just days after another police officer in Kamuli identified as SP Nuwagaba Robinus who was the Busoga North Regional Logistical Officer was found dead in his rented house in Mandwa Ward Industrial Area Kamuli Municipality.
ASP Kasadha Michael the Busoga North Police spokesperson said that preliminary investigations into the death of Nuwagaba suggested that the deceased fell down in the bathroom two days before his death and sustained an injury on the head.
He allegedly started complaining of headache the next day and he was accompanied to a Health facility by one SP Kintu but only to be found dead on June 30, in his house.