PAC Raises Alarm Over Police Court Liabilities

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has raised concerns over a sharp increase in court-related liabilities involving the Uganda Police Force.

The Committee members are questioning why the government is facing billions of shillings in legal claims and awards arising from cases against the force.

The committee, chaired by Patrick Oshabe Nsamba, raised the concerns on Thursday while meeting the top management of the Uganda Police Force led by Deputy Inspector General of Police James Ochaya and Under Secretary Aggrey Wunyi.

The MPs were scrutinizing the Police financial statements and focused on the Auditor General’s report of 2024/2025, which showed that contingent liabilities increased from about Shs98 billion in 2024 to163 billion shillings in 2025.

The increase of about  64.9 billion Shillings prompted the committee to demand an explanation of what constitutes the liabilities and how much of the money relates to court cases that have already been awarded against the government.

Committee members said they had examined a schedule of quantifiable contingent liabilities containing about 170 cases but could only trace court claims amounting to approximately 11.2 billion Shillings for cases listed for 2024 and 2025.

This, they said, left a discrepancy of about Shs53.7 billion between the increase reflected in the financial statements and the cases they could identify from the schedule.

The MPs questioned whether the increase represented cases still before court, cases already determined, or awards that government is required to pay.

Butembe County MP Kiirya Wanzala said there were irregularities in the awards over the years.



Nsamba said the matter was serious because court awards against government ultimately become a burden on taxpayers and contribute to the accumulation of domestic arrears.

He challenged police officials to explain individual cases instead of giving general responses, pointing to several cases listed with awards amounting to billions of shillings.

For example, Kizito David and two others versus the Attorney General, a High Court Civil Suit No. 0152 of 2024, has a claim of over seven billion Shillings.

The Police and the legal department officials initially struggled to provide details of the case, prompting MPs to question why the force had appeared before Parliament without adequate information on the liabilities.



The committee also examined cases involving commercial disputes, procurement disagreements and alleged human rights violations.

James Kusemererwa, the Commandant Land Protection Unit, who spoke on behalf of the police legal representative, said the cases fall into several broad categories, including suits arising from actions of individual police officers, particularly alleged human rights violations, as well as disputes arising from commercial and procurement transactions.

He said cases involving individual police officers constitute a significant proportion of the claims, estimating them at about 60 percent.

Kusemererwa also explained that some of the cases were inherited from the Office of the Attorney General after the management of certain litigation matters was decentralised to government agencies.



However, MPs remained dissatisfied, arguing that police should know the circumstances surrounding cases for which government could eventually be required to pay billions of shillings.

The committee cited cases involving companies such as Springwood Capital and DTB, with police officials explaining that some of the claims arose from commercial or procurement disputes.

The Under Secretary cited an example involving a procurement dispute in which a company allegedly participated in a procurement process but was not awarded the contract and subsequently sought compensation for what it considered lost future income.



The committee also questioned a claim involving about US$6.5 million, demanding to know the nature of the dispute and whether the amount formed part of the Shs163 billion reported as contingent liabilities.

The MPs were particularly concerned about cases arising from alleged human rights abuses, saying awards against government should not continue accumulating without accountability for the conduct that led to the litigation.

Kilak South MP Gilbert Olanya said Parliament had previously seen cases involving communities in northern Uganda where courts awarded compensation for alleged human rights violations, but the amounts in some individual cases were significantly lower than the billions of shillings appearing in the Police contingent-liability schedule.

He questioned why some claims involving government had reached amounts equivalent to millions of US dollars.



The committee also sought clarification on the relationship between the Shs163 billion reported in the financial statements and another figure of about Shs159 billion appearing in the supporting schedules.

Police officials explained that the liabilities included different categories and that not every case listed had been determined by a court.

They said some matters were still pending, while others had already resulted in awards against the government.