Africa-Press – Uganda. Following a flood of complaints by passengers transiting through Entebbe International Airport regarding extortion by security personnel at checkpoints, police have netted two of their own in a crackdown.
Most victims that law enforcement officials target to extract cash from would not have offended any law, according to sources close to the inquiries.
The complainants said they are inconvenienced by the routine practice by armed counter-terrorism and aviation police personnel as well as soldiers “begging”, or cajoling, them to part with money for their comfort.
Modus operandi
Some of the familiar phrases used by the accused include “please, give me water; it’s hot and I am thirsty; might you have some change (smaller currency denomination); and, I am okay, but things are hard”.
Others include “‘for you, you are flying [out of the country], are you just leaving me like this’ and ‘you can leave me with the balance [of cash from your trip]’”.
The revelations about the manner and range of tricks that security personnel reportedly deploy to get whatever money regardless of the currency and amount involved is, highly-placed sources said, an “embarrassment” to the uniformed forces and Uganda.
In addition, supervisors worry it could enable rogues, among them terrorists and drug and human traffickers, to buy their way in undetected — posing a threat to national security.
There is one major sentry between Entebbe Town and Entebbe International Airport — jointly manned by uniformed Counter-Terrorism and regular police, soldiers and plain-clothed operatives — where outbound travellers disembark for physical search before walking through metal detectors and re-boarding.
There are different checkpoints within the airport, one at the entrance to the departure lounge before the airline counters and Immigration desks, another after the waiting area and a last one at the access to the pre-boarding room.
All these have presence of cocktail of security, customs and immigration officials, rendering wide the potential points of contact between them and passengers.
Other operatives patrol outside the airport building, including in the car parking lots, where they allegedly targeted travellers being picked up or dropped off and in the long-term parking area.
The two police officers taken into custody yesterday were trapped by undercover operatives after they were spotted begging for cash from travellers over two days.
The transactions were recorded and investigators now say they plan to review several hours of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) camera footage going back as many weeks or months as possible.
Both police and the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) management confirmed the arrests, which signalled danger for security personnel in the habit of soliciting money from travellers.
Brig Chris Ddamulira, the director of Police Crime Intelligence, on Wednesday vowed to weed out beggars in the forces.
“The arrested officers will appear in court soonest,” Brig Ddamulira said, citing extortion as likely charge against the accused.
The Crime Intelligence Directorate is in-charge of carrying out counter-intelligence on police officers to ensure that they meet police professional standards.
Ms Nada Anderson, the chairperson of the Canine Association in Uganda, sparked a debate about the behaviours of security personnel at the airport after she said the level of begging at the airport checkpoint sullies the image of the country to tourists and other foreign guests.
“It is a big shame that every tourist has to experience the event of soldiers begging at the airport checkpoint. This is the last memory someone creates about Uganda. I am ashamed each time I take a visitor to the airport. A soldier, to me, is a person of integrity and dignity, someone who commands respect. How did we turn them into beggars? Generals, I want answers!” she posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, addressing military chiefs.
Her post generated a debate and several other travellers in comments on the thread echoed similar experiences where armed security personnel openly demanded from them to leave for them “something” at the airport checkpoint.
The Deputy Spokesman of the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Col Deo Akiiki, denied their personnel have turned into beggars.
Entebbe is Uganda’s only international airport and its refurbished and restricted old section is used by the presidential crew. The airport borders Uganda People’s Defence Airforce and United Nations bases, with the latter serving regional peace and security missions.
Investigators expressed surprise that some of the suspects invoke “lunch” as a pretext to obtain money from passengers yet on-duty officers are provided food.
One source said the officers at the checkpoints live next to the airport and their demand for money ostensibly for transport fare is unjustified.
UCAA Spokesman, Mr Vianney Luggya, said management handles unprofessional behaviour once alerted.
“In spite of this and the various customer service sensitisation engagements with some of the agencies’ staff, there are always black sheep who may do otherwise and, unfortunately, create the wrong impression that all are like that. We shall continue to deal with those in line with the prescribed disciplinary processes,” he said.
He added: “We have always clearly articulated our commitment to ensuring a better passenger experience at Entebbe International Airport; so, we do not condone any actions contrary to that…”
In January, travellers complained about extortion at the airport facility, with some saying they were stopped from travelling after refusing to pay bribes.
Some upset passengers recorded the bribe extortion schemes on their mobile phones and shared the video clips on social media, creating a public relations nightmare for Uganda’s aviation stakeholders and crises meetings between various agencies represented at the airport.
They later announced reforms, among them proscribing staff from using mobile phone handsets at work and banning passengers from recording videos inside the airport, which attracted a backlash.
We were unable to establish the success in the implementation of the changes meant for good image building.
The latest allegations lobbed by, among others, Ms Anderson whirl the flames of smouldering problem authorities wished died out. The claim is emerging after UCAA in January announced bolstering supervision to stem mischief of the kind being reported.
The authority between 2020 and January 2023 recorded 26 incidents in which employees drawn from different agencies and working at the airport were implicated in misconduct.
In March, this year, police arrested four workers including security officers at the airport, for allegedly helping a Nigerian national smuggle narcotic drugs worth Shs4b into Uganda.
Salary per rank
•Police Constable: Shs470,000
•Police Corporal: Shs490,000
•Police Sergeant: Shs530,000
• Assistant Inspector of Police: Shs560,000
• Inspector of Police: Shs640,000
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