Slippery Uganda Slippers (sic)
Posted: 18 Aug 2008, 13:04
SLIPPERY UGANDA SLIPPERS
Railways Africa
Friday, 15 August 2008
“Police have impounded six truckloads of stolen railway slippers worth 100 million shillings†($US600,000), writes Andrew Bagala in The Monitor (published in Kampala). The trucks were apprehended in a four month crackdown countrywide. Along the 333km Kampala-Kasese line, out of operation for many years, 90km of rail has been stripped. The 144km Busoga route has lost 70km of rail, Bagala writes. At this rate, according to the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), by the end of 2008, some 173 billion ($US104 million) shillings’ worth of steel will have been stolen.
Commandant of the Uganda Railways police unit Sakwa Wambi says thieves connive with security operatives. “Police officers, Ugandan soldiers and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) are all part of the racket," he alleges. Lieutenant Sula Kisitu, a Gombolola Internal Security Organisation operative at Kiganda in the Mubende District has been arrested for theft of railway property. During 2007, a policeman and another security operative were arrested in the Mityana District on a charge of stealing railway tracks.
The police have set up 12 detachments in 10 districts through which the railway runs, each protecting 20km of line.
According to URC chief executive Noel Muhangi, most of the stolen steel ends up in rolling mills in the Jinja, Mbarara, Lugazi and Iganga districts.
[ RVR’s concession excludes the lines that are being stripped. - editor
Railways Africa
Friday, 15 August 2008
“Police have impounded six truckloads of stolen railway slippers worth 100 million shillings†($US600,000), writes Andrew Bagala in The Monitor (published in Kampala). The trucks were apprehended in a four month crackdown countrywide. Along the 333km Kampala-Kasese line, out of operation for many years, 90km of rail has been stripped. The 144km Busoga route has lost 70km of rail, Bagala writes. At this rate, according to the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), by the end of 2008, some 173 billion ($US104 million) shillings’ worth of steel will have been stolen.
Commandant of the Uganda Railways police unit Sakwa Wambi says thieves connive with security operatives. “Police officers, Ugandan soldiers and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) are all part of the racket," he alleges. Lieutenant Sula Kisitu, a Gombolola Internal Security Organisation operative at Kiganda in the Mubende District has been arrested for theft of railway property. During 2007, a policeman and another security operative were arrested in the Mityana District on a charge of stealing railway tracks.
The police have set up 12 detachments in 10 districts through which the railway runs, each protecting 20km of line.
According to URC chief executive Noel Muhangi, most of the stolen steel ends up in rolling mills in the Jinja, Mbarara, Lugazi and Iganga districts.
[ RVR’s concession excludes the lines that are being stripped. - editor