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BETWEEN THE LINES: Police Spokesperson asked the Public not to blame the police for what the suspects do, stressing that their role as Police is to prevent and disrupt crime.
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Police has blamed the current surge in criminal gangs within urban centres on poverty and unemployment.
“Many of these individuals are unemployed, leading them to criminal activities as a means of survival,” the spokesperson of Police, Fred Enanga, told journalists yesterday during a press conference at the force’s headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.
Addressing unemployment and poverty, Enanga added, is a crucial element if crime is to be curbed.
Police’s spokesperson, who rooted for community policing, also said that concerted effort from all citizens, will help police deal with the emerging criminal gangs that have terrorised people in the recent past.
“To effectively fight crime, it needs concerted efforts. Don’t blame the police for what the suspects do. Our role is to prevent and disrupt crime. We arrest and take suspects to court, and then to prison, where they often regroup and become more hostile once released. Crime is a collective responsibility, and other sectors need to step up their duties,” Enanga said.
He was commenting on the recent case involving Tomson Mugisha, 40, a resident of Kyebando, who was assaulted by a group of criminals led by Eric Mukisa alias Musoota on Ben Kiwakuka Street in Kampala.
Mukisa, was arrested together with 129 others.
At the conference, Luke Owoyesigyire, the deputy Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, linked the recent surge in brutal beatings and robberies to the release of a significant number of suspects who had been arrested three to five months ago.
He said these suspects were released from court due to delayed investigations or insufficient evidence.
“Criminals are back. For the past three months, there were no such incidents. They only resumed after the return of some of the habitual offenders. The suspects behind these attacks are predominantly teenagers aged between 17 and 24, most of whom are residents of Nabweru in Wakiso district,” Owoyesigyire said.
“Although the incidents are alarming, most suspects captured on camera while committing crimes have been traced and apprehended. These incidents happen in under a minute. By the time police respond, the perpetrators have often vanished, but we always trace and later capture them,” he added.
In a recent development, Owoyesigyire said that Amina Nampa, a businesswoman dealing in matooke and sweet bananas in Wakiso district, was brutally attacked and killed by criminals.
He said preliminary investigations suggest that Nampa had recently sold a piece of prime land to boost her business.
FDC agrees with Police
Yesterday, officials from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) also agreed with police, noting that increasing criminality is fueled by fast-growing levels of poverty.
Addressing journalists at their party headquarters in Najjanankumbi yesterday, Robert Franco Centenary, the FDC vice chairperson, noted that if the Government is to fight criminality, then the best way, is to eliminate corruption and reduce poverty levels across the country.
“We have all seen people being robbed in broad-day-light and this is so dangerous especially to our security. If we are to fight the increasing crime rates, then poverty should be addressed first because it is real cause of most of the criminal acts,” he said.
