By Nasuuna Varstine
Kampala: CCTV cameras mounted on Streets of Kampala are doing a great job at identifying city criminals. Recently, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Human Resource Officer Mathias Ssekamatte, was ambushed around Hardware City building and hit on the head with an iron-bar, before being robbed.
The thugs took off with his phone, wallet and other valuables, leaving him bleeding. Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said that “Ssekamatte was followed by a thug all the way from Shell Entebbe Road near Shoprite until he clobbered him at Hardware City building.” He added however that using CCT cameras, the police managed to identify the thugs and are hunting for them.
The business community around Nakasero and Nkrumah villages in the city centre have decried the increasing cases of criminality masterminded and committed by groups of thugs around Kampala, who attack, clobber, injure and sometimes kill pedestrians. “We have reviewed the CCTV footage in that area and positively identified the thug. We are using all our security agencies to find him and his accomplices to bring them to books of law,” Onyango said. However, an eyewitness, Diriisa Namusanga, a taxi operator at Nkrumah Road, said that “ Ssekamatte was attacked by more than 10 thugs, some of who are known in the area but police have failed to track them down and arrest them.” Namusanga added that “Luckily, we saw Ssekamatte’s identity card which indicated that he is a KCCA employee.”
Fred Fanjako, Ssekamatte’s colleague took him to Nsambya hospital after the attack, where he is being treated. He later informed office about the attack. “We thank the boda boda riders who read his documents and got to us in time before he bled to death.” Fanjako said.
Denis Muhumuza Majwala, the Chairman LC1 Nkrumah village, said that “The problem of thugs attacking pedestrians is still rampant because they have a well connected network of operation, right from Katwe, Clock Tower up to Nakasero and Nkrumah villages.” He added that “The thugs normally use the corridor between arcades like Namaganda and Kamu Kamu and then connect to a lane joining Kamu Kamu to Nkrumah Road behind Metropole house. The thugs attack in groups of 10, two of them beat up the victims as others are shielding them if the victim tries to chase after them, they can beat him/her to death.” He also noted that “As residents and leaders of the two villages Nakasero and Nkrumah, we have always asked for more security but no action has been taken.”
