By our reporter
Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Hassan Kasingye has paid a glowing tribute to retired General Edward Katumba Wamala, revealing how the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) personally mentored him and played a significant role in his rise through the ranks of the Uganda Police Force.
Kasingye, one of Uganda’s decorated retired police officers, says Katumba’s influence on his professional and personal life went far beyond the conventional relationship between a commander and a junior officer, describing him as a mentor, father, visionary leader, patriot, Pan-Africanist and commander whose legacy in his life remains permanent.
The tribute came as Katumba retired from active military services, a career spanning over forty years.
Katumba, who rose through the ranks to become Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), was among the senior UPDF generals lined up for retirement in 2026 after about 46 years of military service. His retirement marks the end of one of the longest careers in Uganda’s post-independence military history, although he has continued serving the country in civilian leadership.
For Kasingye, however, Katumba’s retirement is also an opportunity to reflect on the commander who helped shape his own journey.
Kasingye recalls that when Katumba took over as IGP in 2001, he was a Superintendent of Police (SP) and was graduating from Makerere University with a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration and Management.
“When my name was read, there was an uproar from the congregation and I saw the outgoing IGP John Kisembo saying something to you,” Kasingye recalls.
The following Monday, Katumba made one of his first important decisions involving the young officer. Following the interdiction of the then head of Community Affairs Department, Kasingye was appointed Acting Head of the department.
But according to Kasingye, Katumba didn't merely give him a new assignment, but personally explained why he had chosen him.
“You told me that you watched me from far and heard all my radio programmes on CBS Radio with Mulindwa Muwonge,” Kasingye says.
Gen. Katumba, he recalls, told him that he had great hope in him as a young officer and challenged him to intensify and deepen community policing as a way of preventing crime, the responsibility Kasingye says he embraced with the seriousness it deserved.
The two soon became frequent partners in public engagements, appearing together on radio and television and travelling to public meetings to speak to the public about policing and crime prevention.
Kasingye says Katumba also trusted him with sensitive assignments at Police Headquarters, making him one of his first points of contact whenever something needed to be done quickly.
He wrote many of Katumba’s speeches and says the former IGP demonstrated unusual confidence in his intellectual abilities.
At one point, Katumba even asked Nkumba University to invite Kasingye to speak to its Political Science students, according to what he wrote in his tribute.
The relationship eventually went beyond official duties. Kasingye recalls one meeting when Katumba summoned him to his office, where he found Bishop Kawuma of Namirembe Diocese, who wanted to recruit a police officer for theological training at Bishop Tucker Theological College in Mukono.
It was during that meeting that Katumba spoke about Kasingye in words the retired officer says he has never forgotten.
“From that day, you started calling me son,” Kasingye recalls.
Another encounter demonstrated to Kasingye that Katumba was interested not only in the officer but also in the person behind the uniform.
Kasingye says Katumba once summoned him and had both his confidential and open files on his desk. Rather than concentrating only on his official performance, the IGP asked him serious questions about his family, business, health and life outside the Police Force. Katumba then gave him advice that Kasingye says has guided him throughout his public service career.
He told him that his family, health and what he did outside the office were among the most important things he needed to protect if he wanted to remain a good officer and serve his country well.
Kasingye’s career continued to rise rapidly.
In 2002, he was promoted to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), in 2004 to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and in 2005 to Commissioner of Police (CP). He says he wore his CP rank on the same day Katumba handed over the office of IGP to Major General Kale Kayihura.
This, Kasingye says, is why he rejects the perception that his rise through the senior police ranks was largely achieved under Katumba’s successor.
“Contrary to what people say that I earned all my ranks under your successor [Gen. John Kale Kayihura], I actually earned three promotions in the four years you served as IGP,” he says.
Kayihura later recommended Kasingye for promotion to AIGP in 2009, the rank at which he eventually retired from the Police Force in 2022.
Katumba also entrusted him with responsibilities including management of Police FC and the chairmanship of the Police Council Appeals Court, positions Kasingye held until his retirement. Even after their careers took them into different areas of national service, the relationship endured.
When Katumba became CDF, Kasingye says he continued calling him to find out how he was doing while serving as Director of INTERPOL and later in other senior Police assignments.
Their relationship also survived retirement from active service.
When Kasingye was publishing his book Chosen, Katumba offered to write the foreword, an act the retired police officer says he continues to treasure.
“I will always remain indebted to your counsel, command, mentorship and advice,” Kasingye says, further adding that he looked up to Kstumba in whatever he did till today.
"You trusted me, I didn’t let you down even in a single instance.”
Katumba’s retirement from the UPDF follows a career that saw him serve in different capacities, eventually rising to the highest professional military office of CDF before moving into civilian public service, including serving as Minister of Works and Transport, and now, Minister for Public Service.
