Police raise concern over continued destruction of CCTV cables

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Police’s Directorate of Information Communication Technology has raised concern over the continued destruction of underground fibre cables for the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) network.

Citing an example of engineer Eddy Kyambadde, who allegedly destroyed CCTV fibre cables during clearance of a construction site, the Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga said such incidents affect the monitoring of security and safety of persons.

Police say engineer Kyambadde’s action has left places like Kakiri, Masuulita, Namayumba and Kikandwa switched off the national CCTV grid. Enanga says that Kyambadde has since been arrested for destroying CCTV fibre cables.

“The disruptions do affect the monitoring of security and safety of persons within the CCTV zone, thus affecting our response to an emergency. We are getting more concerned, because this is the third incident, where our underground fibre networks are damaged, yet the protection zone is clearly marked on major roads, highways, towns and other localities,” Enanga said.

In 2020, police said fibre cables had been destroyed during the construction of Nakawa-Ntinda road as well the construction of the flyover at Clock Tower.

Allan Ssempebwa, the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) spokesperson says they always engage the organizations with underground cables to shift them before road works start.

“The arrangement is everything is relocated before work can start. That is not our way of doing work. We relocate all utility water, electricity, fibre cables. Everything is relocated before doing our work,” Ssempebwa said.

Juliet Bukirwa, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Spokesperson said that whenever a road project is about to start, they call meetings for all companies with fibre cables to relocate them in advance. This according to Bukirwa results in delays as they give a grace period for all institutions to relocate their fibre cables.

“We notify all companies that could be having their utility lines there so they relocate them before the project commences. Sometimes we tell them to put them there before we start so that they don’t cut in the new road,” Bukirwa says.

Police caution all road contractors to work closely with the Directorate of ICT, to ensure their plants and machinery operate in a manner that does not interfere with very critical government communication infrastructure. Police intended to engage KCCA, UNRA and leaders in urban areas.

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