"Private security companies not supervising guards-Police"

The Acting head of Private Security and Firearms Department in Uganda Police, Apollo Kateeba, has said that cases of security guards killing civilians are as a result of lack of supervision. His comments follow the death of Ainebyoona Mugisha who was on Tuesday shot dead by Moses Angoria, a security guard at Quality Supermarket in Naalya. Meeting directors, operations managers, and supervisors of private security firms in Fort Portal on Friday, Kateeba noted that the Naalya incident and many others would not have happened if the security guards were being supervised by the companies.

He says that private security companies are supposed to have supervisors whose job is to regularly check the performance of the guards. Kateeba said that most of the security guards are not trained enough to handle some situations. He added that the department will move to close all companies that lack the requirements. Some of the requirements he stated include certificate of incorporation, permanent and fenced offices, receipts indicating full payment of monthly salaries for the guards, and proof that hired guns from police are paid for.

Grace Matsiko, the National Chairman of Uganda Private Security Companies Association, admitted that there are loopholes in the training of security guards and their supervision. He said that as an association, they are in advanced stages of establishing a training school for security guards. Pascal Tugume, who represented Saracen Security Limited regretted the Naalya incident, saying that the firm is doing all it takes to ensure such incidents don’t happen again.