Media reports that the Inspector General of Police has ordered the closure of Nalunfuya Detention Centre are false, police have said.
State-owned newspaper the New Vision on Tuesday quoted IGP Martin Okoth Ochola ordering the closure of the detention centre, located in Jinja District.
However, a press statement issued Friday afternoon by deputy spokesperson Patrick Onyango stated that the Force had no plans of closing Nalufenya.
“The matter of Nalunfeya facility was discussed during Policy Advisory Committee, but there was no decision taken or a resolution made on it,” Onyango stated.
Nalufenya was a police station until in 2002 when the Operation Wembley under the leadership of Brig. Elly Kayanja, turned it into a base for interrogating hardcore criminals.
Onyango explained that as is the practice in the Force, the IGP communicates all his decisions in writing, and if the case of Nalufenya had been decided, the same practice would be followed.
“When the decision is taken, it will be communicated in normal procedure and the media will be informed accordingly,” he said.
New Vision reported that during that meeting, Ochola told senior Police men that torture will not be tolerated under the new administration.
There has been widespread condemnation of the manner in which suspects held at the facility have been reportedly tortured.
