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Murders, road crashes claim 25 Ugandans daily
Left to right: Uganda Prisons Service Director of Correctional Services Milton Tiyo, IGP Martin Okoth Ochola, the Deputy Chief at the Chieftaincy of Defence Intelligence and Security, Brig Abdul Rugumayo, DPP Jane Frances Abodo, Financial Intelligence Authority Director of Compliance and Training David Ngobi, Deputy IGP Maj Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Katsigazi and Senior Technical Advisor to the Governance and Security Programme Rachel Odoi Musoke during the launch of thet the launch of the Police Annual Crime Report 2023 at Police Headquarters in Naguru, Kampala on Wednesday. PHOTOS/FRANK BAGUMA
What you need to know:
- Police figures paint grim picture of what goes on Ugandan roads, especially during the peak hours between 6pm and 9pm. Experts call for interventions.
A dozen Ugandans are murdered and a similar number die in road crashes every day, according to the latest police crime report.
The findings released on Wednesday list pedestrians as leading accident victims followed Boda Bodas whom the Traffic and Road Safety Director, Mr Lawrence Nuwabiine, blamed for the majority of crashes.
Speeding and careless overtaking as well as following vehicles closely, either behind or by the side, topped accident causes.
Other drivers included being behind a steering while intoxicated and violating traffic rules. Police named metropolitan Kampala, Greater Mbarara and West Nile as leading accident hotspots in the country.
Whereas overall crime prevalence went down by 1.5 percent, murders and traffic offences spiked, the latter by 15.4 percent.
In absolute numbers, 1 pedestrian perished in road accidents while 1,520 boda boda riders and 614 boda boda passengers lost their lives.
A total of 900 people died in accidents involving buses, sedans, trucks and commuter taxis.
“When you [analyse the trend from] 2019 to 2023, there has been a steady increase in road crashes,” said traffic and road safety director Buwabiine, who is a senior commissioner of police by rank.
“And this increase is registered in the category of road users as motorcyclists, pedestrians and those cycling. That is where we derive an increase when you look at the trend analysis,” he said.
Road crashes and related deaths have continued to increase despite ramped up efforts by police, political leaders and other stakeholders to reduce it.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Jane Frances Abodo speaks during the launch of the Police Annual Crime Report 2023.
These efforts have attracted Road Safety Advocacy Coalition Uganda (Rosacu), a consortium of like-minded civil society actors, with funding from the Washington DC-based Global Health Advocacy Incubator to, alongside the government and partners, spearhead policy and legal reforms for enhanced road safety.
The campaigns last year resulted in an upward revision of penalties for traffic offences, a more visible roll-out of initiatives including by Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U) Head of Radio, Mr Joseph Beyanga, alias Joe Walker, to directly sensitise ordinary citizens and a resumption of spot-checks for drunk drivers.
Despite these drives, the 2023 Police Crime Report shows that some 4,806 people died in road accidents in the year, 15 percent higher than in the year before.
As in previous police findings, majority of the fatal accidents last year happened between 6pm to 8pm, which are peak traffic hours.
“That is when we register many fatalities on the roads. We still continue to lose [people of] age below 35 years. And this is the productive age [bracket] of our economy,” Mr Nuwabiine said.
He said there are several interventions to address road safety issues in this country.
“Education and engineering are critical intervention areas expected to have an impact on the reduction of these crashes. I call upon all the road users of each category to use the road carefully because road crashes are preventable,” Mr Nuwabiine said.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Martin Okoth Ochola, inspects a guard of honour at Naguru mid-week.
Police issued 70,000 more express penalty tickets in 2023 than in the previous year, raking in Shs41b for the government.
Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Tom Magambo, who is the director for criminal investigations, and Mr Nuwabiine separately said on Wednesday that the deaths from homicides and road carnage were unacceptably high.
AIGP Magambo, whom Inspector General of Police Martins Oktoh Ochola hails in the report for bringing down the overall national crime rate through deployment and retooling of detectives and establishing intelligence interface with communities, said they are doing everything possible to ensure violent crime reduces significantly.
He alongside Mr Nuwabiine exhorted Ugandans to change their behaviour to keep safe and stop killing each other. This follows an uptick in murders last year compared to 2022.
Greater Mbarara topped the region that registered the most homicide cases followed by Bunyoro and Rwenzori West regions.
But Luweero as a district recorded the highest number of killings, 90 cases. Ntungamo District (85) ranked second while Katwe Division in Kampala (72) is third placed.
Police reported that 4,366 people were murdered in Uganda in 2023, an average of 12 victims a day, which is five percentage points higher than in 2022.
Murder through assault, mob action and strangulation contributed to the highest numbers of deaths and mob justice cases were highest in Bunyoro or Albertine region.
People at a scene of an accident on the Northern by-pass on December 7, 2023. PHOTO | ISAAC KASAMANI
The law enforcement agency says one in every four of the murder cases is being prosecuted, 2,599 remain under inquiry while 445 cases have stalled.
In 2019, President Museveni directed the police to ensure that cases of mob action are curbed. He said death due to mob action is an indication that the members of the public don’t have trust in the criminal justice system.
Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth Ochola too directed the Criminal Investigations Directorate to handle those who participate in mob action firmly to send a signal to others that taking the law in their hands is criminal.
Despite these stern warning, mob action increased by nine percentage points to 1,039 cases compared to statistics of 2022.
Murder is a capital offence and triable by a High Court where a backlog meant new filing of such cases could not be heard and determined, leaving the accused person on remand.
Main causes of road crashes
•Speeding- 6,297 cases
•Careless overtaking- 5,933 cases
• Following too clos- 1,211 cases
•Unestablished cause- 1,163 cases
•Passing too close- 1,139 cases
•Sudden entrance from the roadside-993 cases
•Violating traffic direction- 915 cases
•Sudden turning- 772 cases
•Careless pedestrian- 754 cases
•Brake failure- 733 cases
•Under the influence of alcohol- 381 cases
•Obstacles on carriage way- 365 cases
•Tyre burst- 353 cases
•Neglecting right of way- 310 cases
•Dazzled by lights of another vehicle- 198 cases
•Violating traffic signs and signals-193 cases
•Steering failure- 188 cases
•Passenger falls from vehicle- 175 cases
•Dangerous loading-159 cases
•Fatigue- 131 cases
•Defective tyres- 126 cases
•Headlight failure- 63 cases
•Using mobile phone- 47 cases
