Museveni orders fingerprinting of all guns

Giving solutions. President Museveni addresses Parliament on the state of security in the country during a special sitting yesterday. Photo BY ALEX ESAGALA

What you need to know:

  • Proposal. President says fingerprinting guns will help security agencies track which gun fired killer bullets based on the cartridges recovered from a crime of scene.

Parliament.

President Museveni yesterday ordered that all guns in Uganda be fingerprinted and all vehicles and boda bodas installed with electronic devices to monitor their movements as part of a nine-point security master plan to contain increasing killings and kidnaps in the country.
The President said all vehicles and boda bodas will bear electronic registration number plates fixed with devices to monitor their movements.
Mr Museveni said the electronic monitoring devices will be installed at owner’s cost.
He said a central monitoring system will be put in place to receive alerts if a person attempts to tamper with the electronic registration numbers.
“I have now issued an order in the security sub-committee. All guns must be fingerprinted by firing each gun in controlled conditions to capture the fingerprints of all of them. That will mean that if any legal gun was used, we shall know which gun was used and we shall know the perpetrator,” Mr Museveni told a special sitting of Parliament during his address to the nation about the state of security in the country.
He said fingerprinting guns will help security agencies track which gun fired killer bullets based on the cartridges recovered from a crime of scene.
He did not elaborate how the fingerprinting will be done.
Mr Museveni said police authorities had admitted during a meeting he convened to discuss the recent wave of killings that it has the requisite technology to fingerprint all the guns in the country but had not taken the initiative to do so.
However, he said the fingerprinting cannot apply to guns brought into the country illegally, but added that border security will be reinforced to check smuggling of guns.
The President also said Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) will acquire modern scanners to scan containers at customs points to check smuggling of guns disguised under cargo.
Mr Museveni’s address on the state of security in the country was triggered by kidnaps and brutal gun killings that have rocked the country in recent years, sending the country into a state of fear and panic with gunmen easily picking their victims and riding away undetected.
Mr Museveni said he would persuade the National Enterprises Corporation (NEC), the production arm of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), and National Social Security Fund to partner and locally manufacture the electronic number plates and illuminated helmets for boda boda riders. Mr Museveni has been vocal on the issue of boda boda riders and directed that they be banned from wearing head-covering hoodies.
He first announced this after the murder of Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga and his brother who were shot on June 8. He reiterated the directive yesterday.
Other measures that Mr Museveni announced include installation of CCTV cameras on all roads, streets, highways, construction of a modern forensic laboratory and enforcing quick response to reach the crime of scene by reviving the police 999 hotline and revamping the police Flying Squad.
He said the revamped Flying Squad will be equipped with Unmanned Air Vehicles sanctioned by the Defence Council of the army’s Air Force.
The government will also monitor social media users and beef up security at borders to check potential sneaking in of guns using porous border points.
All the illuminated boda boda helmets will have numbers stored in a police database.
The modern forensic laboratory will capture human palm prints, DNA, saliva, hair and sweat.

Provoked
Mr Museveni said he was provoked into taking direct action following the November 2016 killing of Maj Muhammad Kiggundu and the March 17, 2017 killing of AIGP Felix Kaweesi.
He was particularly critical of the police saying he had tasked the then Inspector General of Police Gen Kale Kayihura, now in military detention on unspecified charges, to put up as many canine units as possible to detect crime.
“We now have a police of educated people. Why should they be bothering an old man like me to go and look for criminals?” Mr Museveni asked.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen Jeje Odongo, was directed to provide Parliament with an update of the canine units of the police.
Mr Museveni also recounted the years of instability in pre-colonial and post-independence era, explaining that Uganda has not been peaceful for the past 500 years and only enjoyed peace following the defeat of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in 2003.

MPs’ reaction to Museveni’s proposals

David Abala, Ngora County MP: “The proposals are good. But they are long-term strategies. Even then, shall we have patriotic people to manage the systems? How transparent will they be? What about in the short term? All that he has talked about is being implemented in some countries, but do we have the capacity? Do we have the resources? Do we have the ability to sensitise the country? On helmets, some thieves might start targeting other people’s so that when arrests are made, the police will go for the owner.”
Denis Sabiiti, Rubanda West MP: “Some of the things the President has suggested can work – like the electronic number plates if there is coordination. I am optimistic. But judging from experience and what is happening, we still have a lot of problems. This is not going to be an exception. For DNA, there is some sentiment that this one can be used against you if you are not on their side. They can take it and drop it at the scene of crime to implicate me if they do not want me or if they want to eliminate me.”

Silas Aagon, Kumi Municipality MP: “People have reservations about DNA. So there needs to be wide consultations so that by the time we deploy such techniques, they are at peace with them. On the issue of numbers on helmets, someone can wear one with a fake number. The criminals are not sleeping. If someone can make fake Shilling notes, what about a helmet number? With the cameras, how many cameras are you going to install? How are you going to decide where to install them? I hope what the President said will not remain on paper.”

Amelia Kyambadde, Mawokota North MP: “I support the ideas [the President has proposed]. It is high time we started taking measures to protect our people. If we have any other ideas we could develop them around those concepts. Whatever idea you have, it has to be developed and has to be debated.”

Rose Kabagyenyi, Kisoro District Woman MP: “We are happy the President has come out with serious solutions, which we hope are going to curb crime in Uganda. These things about DNA, registering gun fingerprints should have been done a long time ago. There has been some laxity on the part of the security agencies. But having numbers on helmets might not work, a thief can even cover the number. Someone without a helmet can shoot you. We want CCTV implemented but there are loopholes that criminals can exploit.”

Compiled by Nelson Wesonga