Police cash in on gun licences
What you need to know:
- In March, this paper reported that Uganda Police Force stopped licensing firearms for private citizens. This followed allegations that some individuals were hiring guns to suspected criminals and shared the loot. The Inspector General of Police, Mr Okoth-Ochola, later ordered an audit of all police guns, although the findings have not been made public.
Kampala. The Uganda Police Force (UPF’s) collections from revenues from the licensing of firearms surpassed projections threefold, according to UPF’s budget performance report for FY2017/18.
While UPF had projected it would collect half-a-billion shillings from licensing firearms, it collected Shs1.5 billion.
When this newspaper asked the State minister for Internal Affairs, Mr Mario Obiga Kania, to explain the increase, he said the figures explain themselves.
“Let us wait for the [UPF budget performance] document because [the police] are going to come back [next week] and present it,” Mr Kania said yesterday.
He added: “I can’t give you a better explanation than the figures will give.”
Mr Muwanga Kivumbi, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Butambala, said the increase in non-tax revenue from firearm licensing means more and more Ugandans are acquiring guns – legally.
“Obviously, [it is from more firearms], otherwise how would you have that money? It means more guns are out; you don’t need to interrogate it further,” Mr Kivumbi told this newspaper.
Loss of trust
He said with more citizens signing up for guns signals an erosion in their faith in government to protect them.
“It is a sign of a lack of trust in the security apparatus; it is a vote of no confidence in the security apparatus. People no longer feel secure,” Mr Kivumbi, who is also a member of the House Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, said.
The committee has set aside Tuesday, next week, to meet UPF’s big shots as well as the Internal Affairs minister and examine performance of the Force’s 2017/18 Financial Year budget.
According to a UPF breakdown, the police did not meet their targets on revenues from renting out police guards and guarding commercial banks, services from which it had anticipated to earn Shs2b but got only Shs1.4b.
And, while it had projected it would collect Shs16.2b from fees and licences provided for in the Traffic Act, it collected about Shs14b in express and other related penalties.
From certificates of good conduct, which some foreign missions now ask those applying for jobs in the missions to submit, UPF collected Shs2.6b against zero projection on this item.
It got Shs1b from renting out firearms. It is not clear from the document to whom the Police rented its firearms.
Firearms audit
In March, this paper reported that Uganda Police Force stopped licensing firearms for private citizens. This followed allegations that some individuals were hiring guns to suspected criminals and shared the loot. The Inspector General of Police, Mr Okoth-Ochola, later ordered an audit of all police guns, although the findings have not been made public.
