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Uganda: Police Have Only One Handwriting Expert
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New Vision (Kampala)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Steven Candia
Kampala
The Police are in dire need of forensics experts. Uganda has only one ballistics expert and three handwriting ones.
The picture gets worse when it comes to scientific investigation of crime.
The only ballistics expert and two of the handwriting experts are in the Government Analytical Laboratory, leaving the Police force with only one handwriting expert to investigate the numerous cases of fraud and forgeries.
The Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, said this yesterday during the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a Police forensics laboratory in Naguru, a Kampala suburb, the first of its kind in Uganda.
"It is disturbing to note that there is only one ballistics expert in the country and he does not belong to the Police," Kayihura said.
"When it comes to handwriting experts, there are only three, two of whom are in the Government Analytical Laboratory and only one is in the Police."
The new laboratory, which will have toxicology, forensics, handwriting and ballistics departments, will significantly boost the speed of investigations and cut down on costs, Kayihura said.
The construction of the sh 1.6b project at the former Police airstrip, close to the Police headquarters, currently under construction, will be handled by SZXG Building Material and Contractors, a joint venture between Zuo Xiao Gang, a Chinese firm, and Safaha Construction, a Ugandan firm under Pearl Oils Uganda.
It emerged that the construction of the laboratory is a swap arrangement for the Police land in Bugolobi, valued at over sh3b, where the laboratory was initially to be constructed.
Under the terms, Pearl Oils will also construct an administration store for the Police.
The chairman of Pearl Oils, Alwi Hassan, promised to complete the structure within six to 12 months.
"We are proud to make a contribution to the Police force and we shall perform to the satisfaction of the Government," he said.
Given the requirements for the new laboratory, Kayihura said, there was need to recruit doctors and scientists into the Police.
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"That is what our priority should be."
He appealed to the media not to discourage scientists from joining the force.
The acting director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Okoth Ochola, and human resources boss Fred Nabongo attended the event.
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