Kabale Residents decry extortion by police for CCTV camera services.
Following numerous attacks on residents by machete wielders, residents have decried extortion of money by police to review the CCTV footage.
The residents say, even when the attacks happen near the CCTV cameras, when they go to the police to seek help, they are instead asked for money.
Reuben Ainomugisha, alias Lauben Rutegwa, a Kabale-based local radio station news editor, one of the victims, said he was attacked by machete wielders along Nyerere Avenue near Kabale Secondary School in the wee hours of Thursday, 29th February 2023, while he was on duty.
He was robbed of his belongings, such as phones and money equivalent to UGX 170,000.
However, when he went to the police in the morning to review the CCTV camera footage, he was asked to first pay UGX 400,000.
Byamugisha Robert Kakuru, the executive director of Kick Corruption out of Uganda, a non-governmental organization that fights corruption, confirmed that extortion in the police force is real yet the service should be free.
He added that the police also don’t have personnel to operate the cameras, and some cameras are no longer working, which has increased criminality.
Elly Maate, the Kigezi police spokesperson, condemned police personnel who ask for money from victims and asked the public to always report whoever asks for money to view CCTV cameras.
Maate asked victims to always follow the right procedures by first reporting their cases to the police.
