Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Several Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in Kitgum Municipality have remained nonfunctional, one year after they were installed.
The cameras were installed as part of a countrywide security plan following a presidential directive as a measure to help curb urban crimes and heighten security in all cities. The directive came in the wake of shootings in which several Muslim clerics and other officials were killed by unknown people.
In Kitgum Municipality, 15 CCTV cameras were strategically installed in May 2020 at the Kitgum-Gulu highway, the main market, the main bus park, the district headquarters, at the police station and all roundabouts among other strategic places within the Central Business District. However, these have not yet served the purpose for which they were installed.
Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson Patrick Jimmy Okema says that the cameras have not been working due to missing configuration of signals from the antennas that subsequently send the feed to the system’s control room. Okema however says that despite their non-functionality, the region has so far installed automated number plate readers on highways, and CCTV cameras along the Kitgum-Gulu-Kampala highway and the Gulu-Atiak-Nimule highways.
However, the assertion that the CCTV cameras are defective has been received with mixed reactions among members of the public who say that the situation puts their lives and security of people and their property at stake in the hands of criminals.
Michael Kitara, the LCI Chairperson of Lulojo Cell in the Central division says initially they thought the CCTV cameras were working but the non-functionality of the security installations could spur criminality in the area. According to Kitara, many residents were cautious because they feared being captured on camera.
But Emmanuel Lapyem, the Kitgum District Vice Chairperson says the doubt in the functionality of the surveillance system should not tempt wrongdoers to embark in criminality because even without the camera’s the security of all Ugandans and their properties is guaranteed.
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