Tight security for Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference - Police

Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and Uganda Police Force (UPF) have formed a standby team to encounter any security disruptions at the ongoing 64th Common Wealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) in Kampala.

The CPC that was last hosted in Uganda more than 50 years ago has brought together 24 Speakers of Parliaments from Common Wealth member countries and more than 800 legislators.

Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga on Monday said that overt and covert security personnel plus a standby team with specialists in encountering various security situations, are more than prepared to ensure the visitors enjoy their week-long stay in the country.

“We have deployed highly visible and invisible officers to deter any security disruptions and ready to handle any range of criminal activity at the event. We have specialist response team purposely to give right response where need arises," said Mr Enanga.

Specialist teams is comprised of Special Forces Command –SFC, Joint Ant-Terrorism Task Force (JATT), Counter-Terrorism (CT), Crime Intelligence (CI), UPDF and UPF marine teams since visitors might swim at beaches or enjoy boat rides on Lake Victoria.

Other than the specialist team, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) experts have been deployed at Speke Resort Hotel – Munyonyo and nearby places to monitor arriving and departing people for proper records and quick response where need arises.

“CCTV cameras monitoring the entire venues. Search technology. We encourage delegates to ensure that they cooperate with the security team. They should remain vigilant and report any suspicious object, items and behaviour,” Mr Enanga added.

CPC started with closed door meetings of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) regional secretaries, the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) steering committee, CPA small branches steering committee and the governance review working group.

The conference that will end on September 29.