Police Orders KCCA to Enact Bylaw on Security Checks in Public Places

Police in Kampala want Kampala City council Authority (KCCA) to enact bylaws making it lawful to enforce security checks in public places.

Security checkups became a common sight in all public places shortly after the July 11 bombings in Kampala city’s rugby club and the Ethiopian village in Kansanga.

But close to a year after that tragic incident in which 76 people died, security arrangements seems lax and police are concerned about the weaknesses in security checks, amid new terror threats.

Abbas Byakagaba, the police counter Terrorist squad commander, says that operators and owners of places targeted by terrorists have relaxed in checking people who access their premises.  

A random survey by Uganda Radio Network found out that the tight security witnessed at the entry and exit points in to Kampala’s Taxi parks are no more. Equally surprising was the fact that people are no longer inconvenienced by security checks when entering the big shopping malls.

Even security checks at churches are no more. Moses Kafeero, a reveler in Kabalagala, says that pubs have metal detectors just to hoodwink police that they have a security system, but they are not bothered to check revelers entering and leaving the pubs.

But Police warns that the terror threats are not beaten yet, and security should not be lax.

Byakagaba says that he will officially write to Kampala City council Authority ordering them to pass a bylaw which makes it lawful to enforce security precautions in public places.  

Mengasha Mami, the managing director of Ethiopian Village Restaurant, which was target of the terrorist, has welcomed the police proposal. He however says that police should work with the proprietors of public places to ensure that such a bylaw is enforced.

 

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