Police will not stop removing motor vehicle number plates – Enanga

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Police has said it will continue removing motor vehicle number plates if owners are found in breach of the Road Safety Act.

Speaking today at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala, Fred Enanga, the spokesperson of the Uganda Police said that the order by the director in charge of traffic, Bazil Mugisha doesn’t not in any way stop the exercise.

Enanga said Mugisha’s directives to traffic officers were meant to streamline on who can and who cannot de-register a motor vehicle. “It has been noted with concern that police officers pluck number plates from motor vehicles suspected to have committed traffic offences. This is irregular and must stop forthwith, you must use CCTV cameras among other means to trace wanted motor vehicles,” Mugisha’s letter said in part.

But speaking to reporters at the tri-weekly security briefing, Enanga said the police will continue removing number plates for all vehicles found to be in dangerous mechanical condition so that the owners are forced to go and repair them to be road worth. However, Enanga said that the only police officers allowed to pluck off a number plate are those who are at the rank of Assistant Inspector of Police [AIP].

Enanga said the vehicles that are in dangerous mechanical conditions are not only a threat to the driver but also other road users. He added that the Inspectorate of Vehicles assisted by traffic police will also continue to do its job or ridding the road of any cars in dangerous mechanical condition. For the officers below the rank of AIP, Enanga said they should devise other mechanisms to force vehicles in bad mechanical conditions to be parked at police stations as they process for them the Express Penalty tickets or case files for purposes of going to court.

Meanwhile, police announced that over the weekend they impounded 103 vehicles and 486 motorcycles which were found flouting regulations imposed by the government to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Such regulations include, not carrying more than four people in a vehicle, carrying passengers for motorcycles and moving beyond curfew time for both.

*****

URN