Work together with police to curb theft-Kisenyi LC1 chairman

20 February 2025, 10:47 am

By Ronald Ssemagonja

The Local Council One (LC1) Chairman of Buwanika Zone, Kisenyi I Parish in Kampala Central Division, Mr. Sulaiman Tibamwenda, has stated that one of the major causes of theft in areas like Kisenyi is the lack of full collaboration between the police and local residents.

“Here in Kisenyi I, we say ‘Far away from us.’ Major crimes such as house break-ins, assaults, and robberies targeting people’s money, phones, or other valuables were eliminated a long time ago,” he said.

According to the 2023 Police Crime Report, a total of 228,075 cases were reported to the police. There was also a decline in the number of fire incidents, from 1,258 in 2022 to 1,144 in 2023. Of these, 189 were minor and contained before authorities arrived, while 15 were false alarms. The report further indicated that 47.2% of fires occurred between 06:00 and 12:00 hours, while 52.8% were reported between 00:01 and 06:00 hours. The majority of fires (233) were recorded in residential buildings, while 226 occurred in makeshift structures. Additionally, school fires decreased by 23.1%, from 65 cases in 2022 to 50 cases in 2023.

“Some may wonder how we managed to reduce theft in Kisenyi. The answer is simple, we decided to work closely with the local police. Any community that believes it can eliminate crime without involving the police is deceiving itself. It is impossible,” Tibamwenda asserted.

The chairman added that, while theft still exists, it is not as rampant as it was in the past when people could not move freely in Kisenyi.

It should be noted that earlier this week, during a weekly press briefing on security, the Deputy Spokesperson of Kampala Metropolitan Police, Luke Owoyesigyire, informed the public that the police had recovered the largest sum of stolen money to date. The suspect, Ndamuwa Joseph, had stolen a significant amount, with UGX 8 million still pending recovery at the time of the report.

Tibamwenda concluded by urging local leaders to collaborate with residents and law enforcement agencies to effectively combat crime.