Lawyers sabotaged Operation Umoja- PM
Sep 07, 2006
LAWYERS in Uganda and Kenya seized on the existing loopholes in the law to scuttle Operation Umoja targeting stolen vehicles in both countries, Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi said yesterday, reports <b>Steven Candia.</b>
LAWYERS in Uganda and Kenya seized on the existing loopholes in the law to scuttle Operation Umoja targeting stolen vehicles in both countries, Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi said yesterday, reports Steven Candia.
In a speech read by general duties minister Adolf Mwesige, Nsibambi said combating transnational crime in the East African region had been rendered difficult partly due to inadequate laws and jurisdictional barriers.
“For instance, when both the Uganda and Kenya police took innovative steps to combat motor vehicle thefts across borders, lawyers took advantage of the loopholes in our laws to frustrate such an important operation,†Mwesige said at the opening of the 8th Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) meeting at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The same views were echoed by Police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura on Monday. He was opening meetings of the permanent coordinating committee and the sub-committees of legal and training of the EAPCCO that kick-started the regional meet, attended by officials from 10 countries.
Hundreds of suspected stolen vehicles were seized in the April operations carried out in both countries by Interpol and local police but they were returned to their owners.
“We carried out a good operation although it had some weaknesses and the vehicles seem to have been handed back to the people we got them from. So where did we go wrong?†Kayihura asked on Monday.
Nsibambi immediately called for the plugging of the loopholes. “I advise you to study the loopholes and advise the policy makers to plug them through legislation,†he said.
He said criminals had taken advantage of the porous borders and lack of mechanisms to indict them, to graduate from local petty crime to the more lucrative transnational crime.
Ends
In a speech read by general duties minister Adolf Mwesige, Nsibambi said combating transnational crime in the East African region had been rendered difficult partly due to inadequate laws and jurisdictional barriers.
“For instance, when both the Uganda and Kenya police took innovative steps to combat motor vehicle thefts across borders, lawyers took advantage of the loopholes in our laws to frustrate such an important operation,†Mwesige said at the opening of the 8th Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) meeting at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The same views were echoed by Police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura on Monday. He was opening meetings of the permanent coordinating committee and the sub-committees of legal and training of the EAPCCO that kick-started the regional meet, attended by officials from 10 countries.
Hundreds of suspected stolen vehicles were seized in the April operations carried out in both countries by Interpol and local police but they were returned to their owners.
“We carried out a good operation although it had some weaknesses and the vehicles seem to have been handed back to the people we got them from. So where did we go wrong?†Kayihura asked on Monday.
Nsibambi immediately called for the plugging of the loopholes. “I advise you to study the loopholes and advise the policy makers to plug them through legislation,†he said.
He said criminals had taken advantage of the porous borders and lack of mechanisms to indict them, to graduate from local petty crime to the more lucrative transnational crime.
Ends