Tom Magambo: The new sheriff in town changing the face of CID

On January, 25, 2022, President Museveni appointed Maj Tom Magambo as the new head of the police Criminal Investigations Directorate.

The appointment surprised many including those in security circles who considered him a novice partly due to his low rank of Private in the UPDF.

The president consequently promoted Magambo to the rank of Major.

The task that Museveni gave Magambo was to make tectonic changes at Kibuli but this was too huge and Magambo, personally admitted this on Thursday.

“I remember, Mzee when you first briefed me about this assignment (being CID director), I wanted to request you for another deployment but I just feared you.  The first time I came here, I was wondering whether you(President) had rewarded me or you had thrown me in the deep end,” Magambo said.

Two years down the road, Magambo is credited to have succeeded in changing the face of the Criminal Investigations Directorate.

Training

Speaking on Thursday, AIGP Magambo admitted that the president tasked him on mindset change by trying to build a critical mass in CID that understands the country’s direction to able to have transformation.

To ensure this, Magambo realized there was need for refresher training of all personnel at CID, including the deputy directors.

He however admitted that when he suggested this idea of taking all CID officers for refresher training, not many understood why he was doing it.

“They said I had a problem to take everyone for training without leaving anyone behind. I said, we would rather sit for about two months but spend time to plan on what is going on wrongly in CID. This was the best decision ever,” Magambo said.

To this, he admits that he has been able to realign all officers in the CID directorate.

In the last two years, over 450 officers including investigators have undergone refresher training in a bid to realign them with the new dynamics of society.

Speaking on Thursday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo admitted that in the past two years, there has been a great change, especially in the manner in which investigations are carried out by detectives.

“We now have prosecution led investigations which have gone a long way in delivering results that most of the cases that have been handled are done in little or no time,” Abodo said, citing the Karamoja iron sheets case.

“When one minister was taking plea, we were actually committing her to the High Court. This means we had enough evidence that even if court asked us to bring witnesses, they were ready.”

Transferring detectives

Sources say when he was deployed in CID, AIGP Magambo realized that one of the biggest problems and hinderances to successful investigation of cases was the overstay of investigators in one place.

“He realized many long-serving officers had become complacent and complicit with criminals and decided to transfer them,” a source privy with happenings at Kibuli told this website.

For example, in October 2022, Magambo transferred all junior detectives from Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) area to upcountry stations and the same was done to upcountry stations.

This transfer affected over 400 detectives.

Sources say these changes have achieved great results in terms of investigation of cases around the country.

This is said to have led to thorough investigations being done before arrests but has also enhanced professionalism.

Speaking on Thursday, Magambo admitted that there is now a change as CID is no longer predictable.

“These days when we invite people here( at CID), they are not sure of going back home because we have gradually improved our investigation capacity that when we call you, many times we are almost done with investigations. It is very rare to call people and ask them to come , then go back, then come. These days, when we call you, your file is ready and you might not leave this place,” he said.

Welfare of personnel

One of the biggest problems to investigation of crimes are detectives whose welfare is bad and to this Magambo fast-tracked the improvement, especially in terms of facilitation to do work.

Many a times in the past, investigators would ask for facilitation from complainants to be able to work on their cases.

On many occasions, those who fail to part with the facilitation have seen their cases stall or in other instances, investigators turn around and ask for money from the suspects so as to ensure they regain their freedom.

However, it is said that following his appointment, Magambo revived the plain cloth allowance for detectives to help officers shop for plainclothes which they put on during the course of the field work.

Previously, this money was not being given out and they had to dig deep into their pockets.

At CID headquarters, Magambo ensured staff get free meals to avoid instances where they had to pay for these meals themselves.

He also streamlined staff numbers, redeploying personnel to field operations, and correcting anomalies in the command structure by creating  complaints, legal and inspection desks at Kibuli.

Previously, all these roles were being handled by one person.

Revamping facility

Among the visible changes at Kibuli is the revamped facility , including erecting a state of the art gate, fencing off CID land, constructing a state of the art-cafeteria for officers and eliminating eyesores like impounded vehicles and motorbikes which were always a common figure at Kibuli.

Speaking on Thursday, President Museveni applauded Magambo for changing the face of CID.