City of Darkness: Kampala’s most dangerous night spots identified

Kampala the capital city of Uganda remains among the darkest cities in East Africa and Africa at large due to the lack of enough street lights with almost 70% of the installed ones not working at all.

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The too much darkness at night has led to increase in the crime rate in the city as criminals take advantage of the darkness to carry out their night duties like snatching people’s bags and strangling people to death, among others.

According to Lord Mayor Ssalongo Erias Lukwago, the cause of the too much darkness is the reluctancy of some of the leaders at KCCA who are very slow when it comes to implementing some of the projects because they care less about what happens to the common man.

Lukwago also points fingers at the government that has for long refused to meet the budget demands of KCCA something that leaves some of the essential projects without enough funding.

However, according to the state Minister for Kampala Hon Kabuye Kyofatogabye, KCCA is fighting tooth and nail to make sure there is enough light in the city to enhance the work of traders who do their work at night as well as other night travelers.

Kyofatogabye says KCCA already approved a budget for over 20,000 new street lights as well as replacing batteries of those lights that do not work anymore. He adds that the contractor is already in place and has already kicked off the work.

Areas of City Square, Lugogo, Mulago roundabout, Makerere hill road, Sir Apollo Kaggwa road, Nakasero Hill Road, and Kololo hill are some of the dangerous areas where many people have fallen prey to robbers and murderous.

Police have tried to deploy their men in some of these dark spots to curb crime but the enforcement looks to be a drop in the ocean as there is no enough man power to totally get rid of the criminals.

Some of the residents of Nankulabye whom this media spoke to said that some of the police officers connive with the criminals to rob people of their items while other times, some innocent people who move at night are arrested by police later asking them for some money so as they can release them.