Parliament should review gun policy, says Kayihura
Kitgum:
The Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, has tasked MPs to review the country’s gun policy, especially on private fire arm ownership to enable police make ‘restrictions’ on its issuance.
Gen Kayihura was addressing mourners at the burial of the late Kenneth Akena in Kitgum District on Wednesday .
He said gun-related crimes in the country have remained a challenge due to the country’s turbulent history and poor gun policies.
Akena, a child rights activist, was shot at the weekend at Lugogo mall parking area and died later at Norvik Hospital in Kampala.
The police said on many occasions, private and state-owned licensed guns have been misused for committing crime like murder and robbery.
“I think Parliament needs to review the law governing fire arms so that restrictions are enforced. We are currently using administrative ways to curb the issuance of guns to civilians,” Gen Kayihura said.
He cited the jailed former Arua Municipality MP Akbar Godi, whom he said used his licensed gun to kill his wife.
Gen Kayihura said because of the policies deemed insecure for guns issuance to private individuals, the Internal Affairs ministry and police have withheld thousands of applications on administrative and security grounds.
“If we are to allow these gun licenses, a third of Ugandans would be owning guns by now like in the United States of America and chances are the crime rates may be higher,” Gen Kayihura said.
He also assured the public that despite ‘negative’ reports circulating on social media surrounding the death of Akena, investigation into his death are ongoing.
“We cannot investigate in the open, investigation is something we have to do carefully both to protect the witnesses and not to compromise the investigation itself.”
“What I can assure the family and mourners is that there are leads we are following which we believe should lead us to what happened and ultimately enable justice to be done,” Gen Kayihura said.
His statements followed remarks made by a section of political and religious leaders in Acholi sub-region who tasked the IGP to delve more into cracking individuals possessing firearms illegally to avoid such eventualities.
Following Akena’s shooting, police have since arrested and detained Mr Matthew Kanyamunyu, the chief executive officer of Quantum Express Logistics, and his Burundian girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari to help with the investigation.
Uganda's gun policy
In 2012, the government unveiled a new gun policy that seeks to oversee the acquisition, use and storage of fire arms. The policy unveiled by Uganda National Focal Point on Small and Light Weapon called for the replacement of the 1970 Firearm Act that only regulates ownership of firearms held by individuals while those held by police and security agencies are governed under separate laws.
A study titled; Analysis of Armed Crimes, released in Kigali in July, conducted by the Regional Centre on Small Arms in conjunction with the African Development Bank between 2010 and 2014 shows that an alarming 43,512 armed crimes happened in the country.
