The UPDF court martial sitting at the 4th Division barracks in Gulu has issued an arrest warrant for a UPDF sergeant for allegedly stealing guns belonging to soldiers guarding Acholi Inn, a hotel owned by UPDF’s Chief of Logistics, Brig Charles Otema Awany.
The court martial chaired by Col Olanya Ojara heard last week that Sergeant Michael Omoding, then one of the guards at Acholi Inn, stole two machine guns with 200 rounds of ammunitions. The theft is alleged to have taken place in March last year.
Omoding who has since then vanished, court heard, was in-charge of security at Acholi Inn. He reportedly stole the guns when his colleagues were off duty.
Corporal Eriya Ntebekine and Private Charles Kedi with army numbers RA 141936 and RA 203340 respectively handed over their SMG guns registration number 56 – 560 232 810 and 56 – 560 276 520, each loaded with 120 rounds of ammunition to Omoding in the evening as they signed off from duty in March last year.
When the two guards reported for work the next morning, they found the two guns and Sergeant Omoding missing.
Corporal Eriya Ntebekine and Private Charles Kedi however did not report the matter to their bosses until February this year when Lt. Nelson Robert Nyero who had been sent to Acholi Inn to manage security discovered that the two soldiers were not armed. They were arrested and detained at the 4 division barracks for seven months.
While appearing before the military court martial, the two soldiers pleaded not guilty to failure to protect weapons of war. They told court that they had been living in fear since their guns went missing. The duo insisted it was Omoding whom they left with the keys to the store were the guns were kept.
Col. Olanya Ojara, the chairman Military Court at the 4th Division UPDF barrack acquitted the two soldiers and issued an arrest warrant for Omoding who is at large.
Col Olanya urged Omoding to hand himself over to the military authorities before it’s too late.
