Although they are popular for providing security to civilians and vulnerable businesses alike, some private security guards are neither professionally qualified nor aptly equipped for the task at hand

A security professional visiting an eatery in Kampala was shocked when he saw a guard resting his head on the muzzle of his rifle, half asleep and totally oblivious of his surroundings. This is not the only scandal in the thriving industry of private security guards now a regular feature around commercial buildings and private homes.

Thousands of these underpaid, ill trained and largely unmotivated forces have filled the gap in security services traditionally the turf of domestic police.

Demand for their services is obvious from the number of firms offering guard services. When we checked, there are over 75 security companies employing slightly over 18,000 men and women, a figure higher than that of the regular police force who are estimated at 13,000. Security experts say private firms are what the doctor ordered, a shot in the arm since Uganda needs at least 40,000 police officers to meet the goal of providing one police officer for every 400 citizens.

According to the police, currently, the ratio is one policeman to 1,800 Ugandans.

The sheer numbers of private guards, in their colourful uniforms often armed with lethal weapons - guns, is also reassuring to many civilians.

John Mugabe, a Kikuubo businessman who was once a victim of armed robbery at his home in Namasuba, hired private security guards for both his business and family to feel more secure.

"After I was attacked, I felt my life was in danger, therefore, I hired security guards; now I feel more secure," he says.

Professional private security companies provide police-type security, such as guarding banks or other vulnerable businesses. Their rapid growth since the early 90s has been associated with loss of public confidence in the police's ability to secure civilian lives and property.

Enabling factors

The liberalization of the security sector in 1992 coupled with the retirement of thousands of soldiers a year later under the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund) structural adjustment programme, fed the emerging firms with ready and cheap labour (guards are some of the least paid labourers, some earning just Shs40,000 per month).

Most of the security companies are owned or managed by ex-policemen or former servicemen.

According to Franklin Mugendi, the country manager for KK Security, a company operating in seven countries in Africa, there is more to the business than meets the eye. "It takes nine months to train a policeman and allow him to carry a firearm. But because most companies hire so called ex-military or policemen, there are companies that "train" for two days and deploy a security guard," he said.

It is often not asked why they left their former jobs in the army or the police or a background check conducted on their previous record. Indeed concern over the level of professionalism is the biggest concern for security managers and customers.

Partaking of crime?

Early this year, Police revealed that private security organisations top the police crime list for security organisations.

While presenting the 2005 crime statistics, the Kampala Extra Police Chief, Benson Oyo Nyeko said 168 cases reported involved private security guards, 45 cases involved Police Officers, and 43 involved UPDF Officers. They mainly committed murder by shooting, robbery, theft, corruption and bribery.

In February 2005, a group of private security guards from Securicor Gray, a private firm contracted by Stanbic to offer security services, disappeared with money worth Shs700m while on transit from Mbale to Iganga abandoning the bullion van along the way.

In November last year, during the fracas following the arrest of Dr. Kizza Besigye, a foreign film crew filmed a security guard firing into a crowd while it was reported that another guard shot and wounded two men to stop them from looting a commercial building during the riots.

Private security firms are supervised by the Uganda Police, which has a commissioner assigned to the task. Commissioner Ahmed Wafuba who declined several requests to talk about his section is the current in charge.

The department of private and firearms control he runs has since 1997 been responsible for issuing operating licenses if a company has passed police guidelines including an assessment of its guards and guns. But there are major lapses here. For example, despite a deadline for applications to renew licenses by the close of 2005, most firms have not received their operating licenses for 2006 and are in effect operating illegally.

Inadequacies cited

Before being granted a license, a security firm is required to fill Uganda Police Form PSF 97 A, which checks its capabilities against high standards, experts say they are rarely fulfilled by the firms that are finally licensed.

The form requires information about the company's owners, finances, insurance policies for its staff, welfare programmes and even the number of uniforms it has. But the stringent rules remain on paper. During a visit to a petrol station, it was discovered for instance that the guard had left his automatic weapon locked in the accountant's drawer.

One guard in Kansanga told us, on condition of anonymity, that he and many of his colleagues were being deployed with guns which have no ammunition to reduce on operational costs.

When thugs attacked, he was the one on the run. "I tried to scare them off, but they continued to climb the gate, I ran for my life, that is what many of my colleagues do. It's not because they are not trained, but they have no bullets," he said.

Outgoing Police Spokesman, Asuman Mugenyi told us the police has introduced a training manual for the guards but admits monitoring of the quality of guards is still inadequate.

Some firms however accuse the police of poor supervision and blame it for the proliferation of quack firms. "We would have fewer companies if the rules were followed," one manager disclosed.

"We monitor and supervise our staff activities and if any employee is involved in any wrongdoing, they are definitely reprimanded," says John Kahamba, the operations manager for Saracen Security. His company maintains employee files and keeps fingerprints as is required by the police. Security companies are in regular touch with the police and sit in some security meetings but it is early to say how soon cooperation between the government and private firms will fix major problems like poor pay for guards.

Police is building a database of both private security employees and also criminals, which can be shared around.

However, the Great Lakes region is awash with small firearms and spawns hundreds of ex-combatants. It is believed that the guns and the gunmen are responsible for the high crime rates in the region having been part of conflicts in DR Congo, Northern Uganda and the horn of Africa.

One piece of evidence according to a government security source is the fact that many guards are ethnically from the north and the east of Uganda, regions that have borne the brunt of conflict in the past one and a half decades.

Uganda and neighbouring Kenya are as different as night and day when it comes to what to do about criminals with guns. "Crime in a city like Nairobi is higher despite the fact that all guns are held by police and security compared to Kampala, for example. That is partly because in Uganda, military law applies to armed aggression," says Mugendi.

In July last year, a bill proposing to arm private guards received widespread criticism from security agencies and members of parliament in Kenya. They argued that they were not ready for such a move.

While the Kenya Security Industry Association said arming private security guards could compromise security, the opposition party members rejected the Bill, saying the proposal was an admission of failure on the part of the government to protect its citizens.

If Uganda's approach to its security, both by opening up to private security companies and empowering other crime busting units to shoot to kill or court martial criminals has succeeded, experts say more reforms are required. "Criminals are deterred by the presence of a guard, armed or not but sooner or later, crime gets more sophisticated especially as social pressures and poverty increase," Mugendi says.

KK Security, together with the Police are organising Uganda's first Security Companies Exhibition, to show customers what other options they have beyond poorly paid guards.

Additional reporting by Alex Gitta