Security bans hiring out cars for self drive in Masaka

Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The joint security taskforce in greater Masaka has directed public transport operators to stop hiring out their vehicles for self-drives.

This is part of the security advisory by Masaka district security committee, which convened an extraordinary meeting in the wake of terror incidents characterized by multiple bomb explosions in Kampala central business district on Tuesday this week.

The regional security meeting chaired by Brigadier General Deus Sande, the Commandant of UPDF Mechanized Brigade at Kasijjagirwa in Masaka, and attended by Resident District Commissioners and all Police Commanders from the nine districts in the greater Masaka sub-region, resolved to heighten security and community vigilance as the best way to avert similar terror incidents.

Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi, the Masaka Deputy Resident City Commissioner, who addressed taxi operators after the meeting, said that the security chiefs identified the practice of hiring vehicles for self-drive as a possible loophole the the wrong people can utilize to commit atrocities.

He said the unsuspecting car taxi operators and special car owners can easily be manipulated by wrong people masquerading as customers, and convince them to hire their vehicles for eventual use in their evil missions.

According to Kateregga, besides instructing taxis and special hire vehicles to step up their vigilance all the time, the security committee also asked them to stop hiring out the vehicles to strange clients.

Katumba Ssegawa, the patron of Masaka Taxi Operators and Drivers Association, says that they have harmonized positions with the security team for purposes of ensuring the safety of the people in the area.

He said that they also want the new security guidelines to be broadened beyond the hire of public vehicles to also involve private cars and motorcycles.

According to sources that attended the security meeting, besides increasing both covert and overt security operations in the region, General Ssande issued express instructions to security chiefs in the area to carry out spontaneous security checks on any places they deem necessary.

Security also mapped out potential hotspots of terror activities and agreed to deploy personnel who will always watch over them.

*****

URN