The Resident City Commissioner (RDC) Aisha Kabanda, Kampala East Regional Police Commander (RPC) Andrew Kaggwa and District Police Commander (DPC) Kampala Central Police Station Micheal Sabila Musani, addressing the media at RCC offices in Kampala. Photo by Godiver Asege
Government?s decision to heighten the security of tertiary institutions comes barely two days after gunmen stormed Garissa University College in Northern Kenya, killing 147 students and injuring 79 others. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
Briefing the press on security measures for Easter festivities, Aisha Kabanda, the Resident City Commissioner (RCC) said police had deployed more personnel including plain-clothed officers to fortify tertiary institutions, in a bid to forestall attacks.
Mobile patrols around tertiary institutions Kabanda revealed have equally been increased by security agencies; with a whole lot of detectives planted therein to dig out intelligence on potential plans for subversive activities such as attacks.
Police, Kabanda said had also taken over control of access into all tertiary institutions, with an emphasis on Kyambogo University whose boundary was described as ?porous?.
?The city Security Committee directs that all access routes be strictly controlled. This control includes prohibiting passage of public service vehicles and motor cycles that simply go through the institutions,? said Kabanda.
?The access routes that go through Kyambogo University to the neighborhood shall strictly be controlled; prohibiting passage of taxis and boda bodas. Public transport providers are advised to use alternatives routes.?
Police takeover security of key facilities
During the same press briefing held on Friday in the RCC?s office on Nakasero Road in Kampala, police announced that they had taken over security of key public facilities that are frequented by multitudes of people such as hotels, entertainment centers, amusement parks, health facilities, prayer houses, meeting venues, big restaurants, supermarkets, markets, and car parks.
Andrew Kaggwa, the Regional Police Commander for Kampala East said they have deployed numerous teams to monitor adherence of public facilities to security guidelines. Such teams, Kaggwa said constitute both uniformed and plain-clothed officers.
?The Uganda police is available to assist in possible ways to make every place as secure as possible. We expect managers of public places to observe terror guidelines which include thorough searching of every person and vehicles that access public places,? said Kaggwa.
Wearing a tough face, Kabanda warned that government would not hesitate to lower the curtain on establishments that will found flouting the security guidelines. She described such disregard of security guidelines as ?negligence that risks the lives of Ugandans?.
?Where we find security personnel acting negligently, we shall take disciplinary action against them directly; whether police or private security guards. We have noted that private security guards can easily be compromised by handouts. We shall deregister such firms that stake lives of people,? said Kabanda.
Goodman Mwesigye, the deputy resident internal security officer for Kampala said their deployments were both covert and overt, to plug all security loopholes that would otherwise be used by attackers like in Kenya to cause mayhem in Uganda.
Innocent Anguyo, The New Vision
