Profile: Who is IGP Martin Okoth Ochola?

By our reporter

Martin Okoth Ochola is the current Inspector General of Police(IGP) a position he assumed officially on 4th March, 2018.

He replaced Gen. Kale Kayihura. Prior to his new assignment, Ochola deputized Kayihura.

He was born on 19 September 1958, in Agumiti Village, Mulanda sub-county, West Budama County, in Tororo District.

He attended Abweli Primary School, then Rock View Primary School and Kisoko Boys Primary School, where he sat his Primary Leaving Examinations. He attended Namilyango College for his high school education.

Later, he joined Makerere University where he graduated with a Bachelors degree in Law in 1983. The following year, he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, from the Law Development Centre.

He went into private law practice, working as a legal assistant between October and December 1984, at the law firm of Owori and Company Advocates in Mbale Town. He then relocated to Kampala, where he worked as a legal assistant in Kampala City Council for three years.

Joining Uganda Police Force;

Ochola joined Uganda Police in January 1988 and started a nine-month basic training. At that time, he was given the rank of a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police. Following that training, in February 1989, he was posted to Entebbe International Airport as the officer-in-charge of Airport Security.

From there, he served at Entebbe Police Station, Buganda Road Court, where he remained for three years. He was then posted to police headquarters as the acting assistant commissioner of police in the legal department. He was promoted to superintendent of police and later to senior superintendent of police.

In May 2001, he was appointed the deputy director of criminal investigations and remained in that position for seven years. In 2008, he was promoted to commissioner of police. That same year, he was confirmed as director CID. In 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police.

In August 2011, President Yoweri Museveni appointed him the Deputy Inspector General of Police. He served as the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), deputizing Gen. Kayihura until 4 March 2018, when he replaced him as the new IGP.