Police in Mukono lack patrol vehicles and bikes

Mukono, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Mukono District Police Commander -DPC Annabella Nyiramahoro has reported to her top bosses that they have a shortage of patrol cars to cover the whole district which has in turn affected their efficiency.

In a security meeting between police officials from Kampala and the chairpersons of various villages in Mukono district held at the Mukono municipality, she said that ideally at least one motorcycle is supposed to be at every police post in the sub-county.

“We find that some police posts have no motorcycle to use when called upon by the local leaders and this has led to a spike in crimes in the district,” she said.

A leader from Seeta, Angello Musaka says that Seeta is lucky as they have one car however, it is in a bad condition as it is always in garages for repair.

“Mob justice in our Nyenge ward is as a result of delay by the police to reach us once called upon,” he says. “In most cases they arrive when the place has now turned into a new crime scene – when the victims (of theft) have already turned into suspects (of lynching).”

He also adds that on several occasions the Officer in Charge of Seeta police post is seen footing or running to a crime scene.

David Kigozi the Defense LC I Kigombya reports that their patrol car in Wantoni also serves many places which probably caused it to break down.

“It has been two years now and no replacement has been brought,” he says

“Unlike those days, robbers have also got to know about the absence of the patrol car and the few police personnel we have, so lately they take their time in the night breaking into our homes because they know by the time the police arrives they will be done and long gone,” he added.

The Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander Steven Tanui says they will try to procure for them more cars, and repair those that have broken down.

SP Norman Musinga the head of traffic in Kampala Metropolitan appealed to them to observe the sops while on the move.

He says there are high rates of theft in the region by boda boda gangs who have been bending their number plates so that they can not easily be captured by the CCTV cameras along the way. According to him, these gangs have now taken it a notch high by now positioning the number plates so they cannot easily be seen by cameras.

Mukono Police Division has recently been registering several cases of robberies on roads like Mulyanti and Ssaza, both in Nabuuti and the junction to Nabuuti, Nasuuti, behind the municipality near the Mother’s Union offices by boda boda gang robbers.

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