Uganda’s landmarks sitting on time bomb
<b>By Vivian E. Asedri</b><br><br>WITH terror Al Qaeda’s offshoot, Al Shabaab of Somalia, openly threatening to attack Uganda, many of our landmarks are so poorly secured that they are sitting on time bombs ready to explode if and when the terrorists choose to act on their threats.
By Vivian E. Asedri
WITH terror Al Qaeda’s offshoot, Al Shabaab of Somalia, openly threatening to attack Uganda, many of our landmarks are so poorly secured that they are sitting on time bombs ready to explode if and when the terrorists choose to act on their threats.
By international standards, Uganda does not have skyscrapers towering 100 floors, whose tops are swallowed up by fog, mist or low lying clouds during inclement weather. Nonetheless, Kampala city has a number of fairly tall buildings that house many offices with thousands of workers during day time. While it is encouraging to see that management at most of these high-rise buildings have set up metal detectors/scanners at their entrances, my personal experience from entering these buildings proves that the metal detectors are for decoration, not to ensure security of lives and property.
I have lost count of times I have been easily cleared by private security guards and police personnel manning these metal detectors with my back-pack containing a video camera and other personal belongings that set off the scanner alarms, yet the security personnel never bother to question me what triggers off the alarm, nor ask me to come back for them to open my bag to see the contents of my back-pack.
With numerous suicide bombs detonated around the world in high-rise buildings to cause maximum loss of life and property, I am never happy to be let in this way because I feel so insecure and scared in these buildings the moment I go past the metal detectors unscreened.
If this can happen to me, how many other visitors are easily let in daily? What if I was a suicide bomber and what I claim to be a video camera is actually a time bomb, how would these guards stop me from blowing up the buildings? What if I was using my video camera as a delivery device to set off the bomb once I am out of sight of the guards, how would they stop me? Do our security personnel have enough training on how to effectively use these machines?
Not once did any of the guards ever asked me to open my back-pack and directed me to turn on the video camera for them to ensure it is truly what I claim it to be. This is a very scary phenomenon that the terrorists can easily take advantage of. We do not need another deadly attack like the ones on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, before we put in place security deterrents.
How much training is given to our Police and private security guards to keep abreast with the fast changing security complexities in today’s world? What I see happening in Kampala and elsewhere in Uganda is testimony that we are at least 30 years behind security monitoring practices.
It does not matter how many times the guards tell visitors to come back and empty their pockets and bags whenever scanner alarm goes off because the alarm is telling you that there is a metal somewhere on the person being screened. Security personnel should know that they are empowered to do so and they have the authority to throw out of the building non-compliant visitors.
As in the medical field where we are trained to take every person to be a potential infection agent, hence arming ourselves with universal protective tools and techniques, our security personnel should assume every visitor entering a secured building to be a potential terrorist, regardless of age, sex, how they dress, including religious attire or how familiar and innocent they may appear to be. Terrorists disguise themselves in all forms imaginable. Security is an inconvenience and we should never be ashamed or scared to apply that universal precaution principle to every visitor.
Since the New York City’s Twin Tower bombings on November 11, 2001 by Al Qaeda, the world will never be the same again. Besides, Uganda’s participation in providing troops to the African Union peace mission to wartorn Somalia makes her increasingly fertile target for suicide attacks. To see that no such attacks have occurred in Uganda is neither cause to celebrate nor a sign that our security agencies are doing a wonderful job. The truth is they are not.
As a matter of urgency, we need to retrain our Police force and private security personnel who secure our landmarks to close security loopholes that terrorists may circumvent. We should never be so naive to let our guards down and assume that the terrorists are not watching us because they are. The best defense is for us to be ahead of their game.
The writer is a medical information technologist San Diego,
California, USA
WITH terror Al Qaeda’s offshoot, Al Shabaab of Somalia, openly threatening to attack Uganda, many of our landmarks are so poorly secured that they are sitting on time bombs ready to explode if and when the terrorists choose to act on their threats.
By international standards, Uganda does not have skyscrapers towering 100 floors, whose tops are swallowed up by fog, mist or low lying clouds during inclement weather. Nonetheless, Kampala city has a number of fairly tall buildings that house many offices with thousands of workers during day time. While it is encouraging to see that management at most of these high-rise buildings have set up metal detectors/scanners at their entrances, my personal experience from entering these buildings proves that the metal detectors are for decoration, not to ensure security of lives and property.
I have lost count of times I have been easily cleared by private security guards and police personnel manning these metal detectors with my back-pack containing a video camera and other personal belongings that set off the scanner alarms, yet the security personnel never bother to question me what triggers off the alarm, nor ask me to come back for them to open my bag to see the contents of my back-pack.
With numerous suicide bombs detonated around the world in high-rise buildings to cause maximum loss of life and property, I am never happy to be let in this way because I feel so insecure and scared in these buildings the moment I go past the metal detectors unscreened.
If this can happen to me, how many other visitors are easily let in daily? What if I was a suicide bomber and what I claim to be a video camera is actually a time bomb, how would these guards stop me from blowing up the buildings? What if I was using my video camera as a delivery device to set off the bomb once I am out of sight of the guards, how would they stop me? Do our security personnel have enough training on how to effectively use these machines?
Not once did any of the guards ever asked me to open my back-pack and directed me to turn on the video camera for them to ensure it is truly what I claim it to be. This is a very scary phenomenon that the terrorists can easily take advantage of. We do not need another deadly attack like the ones on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, before we put in place security deterrents.
How much training is given to our Police and private security guards to keep abreast with the fast changing security complexities in today’s world? What I see happening in Kampala and elsewhere in Uganda is testimony that we are at least 30 years behind security monitoring practices.
It does not matter how many times the guards tell visitors to come back and empty their pockets and bags whenever scanner alarm goes off because the alarm is telling you that there is a metal somewhere on the person being screened. Security personnel should know that they are empowered to do so and they have the authority to throw out of the building non-compliant visitors.
As in the medical field where we are trained to take every person to be a potential infection agent, hence arming ourselves with universal protective tools and techniques, our security personnel should assume every visitor entering a secured building to be a potential terrorist, regardless of age, sex, how they dress, including religious attire or how familiar and innocent they may appear to be. Terrorists disguise themselves in all forms imaginable. Security is an inconvenience and we should never be ashamed or scared to apply that universal precaution principle to every visitor.
Since the New York City’s Twin Tower bombings on November 11, 2001 by Al Qaeda, the world will never be the same again. Besides, Uganda’s participation in providing troops to the African Union peace mission to wartorn Somalia makes her increasingly fertile target for suicide attacks. To see that no such attacks have occurred in Uganda is neither cause to celebrate nor a sign that our security agencies are doing a wonderful job. The truth is they are not.
As a matter of urgency, we need to retrain our Police force and private security personnel who secure our landmarks to close security loopholes that terrorists may circumvent. We should never be so naive to let our guards down and assume that the terrorists are not watching us because they are. The best defense is for us to be ahead of their game.
The writer is a medical information technologist San Diego,
California, USA