Family’s grief after officer killed in police station raid

Dar es Salaam. When Gaudin Kakoko left his house for work, the officer at Stakishari Police Station was looking forward to travelling to his Karagwe home in Kagera Region the next day. Little did he know that he would not live long enough to see another day, let alone home.

He arrived at his duty station at 10pm and recorded his arrival in the Occurrence Book where all rank and file police officers register on arriving for duty.

Some 45 minutes later, a group of people arrived at the station posing as civilians who needed service in the Charge Room office. The men, who turned out to be gangsters, opened fire as Mr Kakoko and five other officers on the night shift were about to ask the strangers to identify themselves.  Gunfire rent the air as the gangsters and the officers exchanged fire. Four of the six officers died at the scene, Mr Kakoko among them. Yesterday, mourners turned up in large numbers at the slain officer’s Majohe home.

His wife, Editha, wept uncontrollably as visitors arrived to console her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she recalled her last moments with her husband. “He stayed in the room the entire day, sleeping under the mosquito net,” she recalled. “He did not even talk to me although we had planned to travel the next day.”

Mr Kakoko woke up at 9pm, got ready for work and left without saying goodbye to her. Editha recalls: “I heard people talking outside my house during the night and it was unusual. When I opened the door, they told me the sad news that my husband was dead.”

The couple had three daughters--Beatrice, Lilian and Rachel--and a son named Junior. “I don’t know how I will raise my children alone because my husband was the bread winner of the family,” said the widow.

Mr Revocatus Kakoko, the dead man’s younger brother, said his brother had asked for some time off duty in order to travel to Karagwe to see his seriously ill mother. She had asked her son to take her grandson along for the trip. His office had granted him permission to travel on Monday morning and he planned to meet his wife at the bus station immediately after handing over to the morning shift team.

In another development, armed gangsters stole 22 firearms at the police station. On Monday, Inspector General of Police Ernest Mangu declined to disclose the number of firearms and rounds of ammunition that were stolen. They would disclose the details after investigations were completed, he added. But The Citizen learnt that among the weapons stolen were 11 Sub-Machine Guns and 11 other weapons, including semi-automatic rifles, that are usually used during military parades.

“They (attackers) were armed with sophisticated weapons,” said a source who declined to be named. “Considering how they broke into the armoury, you can see that they were well prepared.”

The gangsters did not go for grenades and other bombs and appeared to be interested in guns only. They reportedly also stole a large amount of ammunition during the raid, which was the latest in a series of attacks on police stations in recent months.

Yesterday, the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG) condemned the attack and asked citizens to volunteer information that could lead to the arrest of the raiders.

CHRGG chairman Bahame Nyanduga asked the police to widen their patrols and beef up security at all police stations even if this meant buying more weapons.

“The commission requests the government to conduct a thorough investigation on the attacks on police stations in order to protect our officers and the entire community,” Mr Nyanduga said in a statement.