WITH THE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN UGANDA, CRIME IS NOT NEWS

Annual crime and traffic/road safety report 2011: At least 10 killed per day Annual crime and traffic/road safety report 2011: By ANDREW BAGALA In Summary The latest crime figures released by police indicated that Uganda remains among the countries struggling with a very high murder rate, with at least one person losing their life every two hours around the country. Speaking at workshop where the 2011 annual crime statistics were released, Police chief Kale Kayihura observed that the Force faces a new serious challenge with cases of deaths by poisoning on the rise. New revelations. Poisoning cases, for the first time ranked higher than mob action, according to the report. The police chief says they have put in place measures to check sex crimes. At least 10 people are murdered everyday in the country, the Annual Crime Traffic and Road Safety Report of 2011 has shown. The report launched yesterday shows 1,987 cases of murder in which 3,753 people were victims compared to 2010 where they registered 1,761 cases and 3,160 victims. With 3,753 reported killed everyday, it suggests that a human life is violently taken away every two hours in the country. Cases of deaths by poisoning more than doubled and ranked highest among the category of homicide with 413 instances registered in which 659 people died last year. In 2010, police recorded 153 cases of poison-induced killed which resulted in 434 deaths. The Inspector General of Police, Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura, who released the report, said poisoning is becoming a real crime problem the country. “Poisoning is at its highest and also acid attacks are a real problem. These days I am even scared of eating in hotels. This is very serious,” Gen. Kayihura said. Poisoning cases for the first time ranked higher than mob action, which is still prevalent and on the rise. At least 466 people died in the 383 cases of mob action that were reported to police, a figure slightly lower than the 357 cases registered in 2010 in which 438 people were killed. Share This Story Share In totality, police registered 268,811 cases of which 99,321 were criminal in nature compared to 262,936 cases reported last year of which 99,917 were criminal. This shows a decline in crime by 3.8 per cent. The report statistics indicate a slight decline in sex-related offences including rape, defilement and indecent assault from 8,645 in 2010 to 8,632 cases in 2011. Nevertheless, defilement cases rose by two per cent from 7,564 cases to 7,690 in the same period. To curb sex-related offences, Gen. Kayihura said they have established a Department for Children and Sexual Offences within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and a gender-based unit in the Child and Family Protection Unit to enable specialisation and tracking of such cases. Road and traffic safety statistics show that accident fatalities increased by eight per cent from 2,620 in 2010 to 2,843 last year despite a slight decline in all traffic accidents. abagala@ug.nationmedia.com