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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament have faulted Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for failing to create a Metropolitan Police Force nine years after a law came into force.
In their report, the MPs sitting on the committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) say that the failure for the authority to form a Metropolitan Police Force for the Capital City is contrary to the KCCA Act, 2010.
The report on the audited Public Accounts of selected Statutory Corporations for financial years 2013/2014 to 2015/2016 is set to be debated by Parliament next week as directed by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.
During the audit years to date, the failure to create and appoint the said police force is a recurrent annual audit query raised by the Auditor General John Muwanga.
“The Authority has continued to rely on services of the Uganda Police Force who are not directly accountable to the Authority. Management informed the Committee that they have also employed Enforcement officers to manage the enforcement component, however, they are not trained and competent enough to keep law and order in the city; and this explains the rampant chaos and deaths in the city whenever enforcement exercises are done,” reads part of the report.
The Committee recommended to parliament that KCCA expedites the process of making the proposals to enable the amendment of provisions in the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Act in order to rectify the issue of the Metropolitan Police Force.
The MPs say that the officers under the Force should be recruited in liaison with the Uganda Police Force and go through training.
The KCCA Act which has dragged on in parliament for amendment, especially in regard to resolving the leadership wrangles at the City Authority, does not provide for regulation of the law enforcement officers that are currently used by KCCA.
However, the Act is specific on having a Metropolitan Police Force for the Capital City comprised of persons appointed under the Police Act and trained by the Uganda Police Force.
With the Metropolitan Police not constituted nine years later after the law came into force, the Authority relied on enforcement officers who according to a recent statement by Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango are partly trained by Police for three months.
Even with the reported training, KCCA has come under criticism for high-handedness of the KCCA enforcement officers especially during operations to evict street vendors.
The vendors have on several occasions accused the law enforcement officers of brutal arrests and abuse of human rights.
Kampala Minister Beti Kamya in March suspended at least seven KCCA law enforcement officers for brutal arrests.
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