Ugandans ‘doubt’ CCTV cameras after Nansana day robbery

Five armed thugs on Wednesday raided Cheap General Hardware in Nansana and gunned down three people. The yet to be identified thugs also took off with over Shs200m.

According to Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango, three people have been arrested to help police in investigation.

However, many Ugandans, especially residents of Nansana are wondering whether the recently installed CCTV cameras are operational.

Some of the people Watchdog Uganda talked to say that since all the routes the suspects used have cameras, why was the police slow to respond to the raid on the supermarket.

“This place is covered with cameras; the Police station is near the hardware store but most importantly, the CCTV control centre is at Nansana Police Station. Police hard all the chances to get these thugs within time but up now nothing. We doubt if some of these cameras work,” a Nansana resident said.

A security expert also said the purpose of the cameras was to help curb killings and robbery within the city.

“But now it’s becoming worse. People are murdered during broad daylight. If cameras were operating, Police would have acted real fast. Instead, they came late after the crime scene had been tampered with,” he said.

Dumba Ronald, a bodaboda rider said the killers had masks and that everybody saw them arriving on motorbikes.

“We saw them. Their faces were masked and I hope even the cameras were ‘seeing’ them. The masks alone were enough to cause suspicion and have the Police alerted,” Dumba said.

Allan Kiyonga, a law student at Makerere University said cameras have not reduced any rate of criminality, especially in Kampala.

“The government installed CCTV cameras at almost every junction within and around Kampala. In some places, cameras are 500 meters apart. Ideally, they should be used to solve many crimes but it looks like crimes are increasing,” said Kiyonga.

However, Onyango said investigations are on going.

“Ugandans should calm down. Of course, we are also using cameras to help us but this is a security matter and it’s too early for the public to judge this case. We promise that we shall get them,” said Onyango.