Exhibits destroyed in Ntinda police station fire

Criminal exhibits were among the items burnt to ashes in a fire that gutted Ntinda police station.

The Wednesday night fire reportedly started from a house in the police barracks and quickly spread to the traffic office and other housing units before it was put off by the fire brigade.

Moses Wegura, the officer in charge of Ntinda police station, said the fire was started by one of the police officer’s children in the barracks who was burning rubbish inside the house.

“It started from the barracks as a result of negligence and spread to the nearest traffic office, a child set fire inside but it also came in contact with electric cables, and the nearby houses were burnt,” he said.

According to Wegura, the burnt exhibits included motor vehicle number plates, driving permits, national IDs, police uniforms, shoes, and book records. Hellen Adukut, a wife to a policeman says that all uniforms and books belonging to her daughter were burnt.

“It burnt all my books – my bags, the uniform plus my stockings and some of my shoes. So right now I’m stranded and I don’t know where to start from whereby my mom is a single parent and my dad does not work from Ntinda police station, he’s upcountry and he doesn’t get salary. I would like to call for support from those police top authorities to help and buy the things I have lost,” said one of the affected students.

Charles Mura, another police officer, says that he lost Shs 300,000 cash and all his academic documents.

“My bedsheets all got burnt, there is nothing I’m having. When I got here everything was burnt, I couldn’t remove even a plate. Fire had reached very far, I had nothing to do, I remained the way I’m, the way I slept. I lost Shs 300,000 plus my documents S.4, S.6 and the courses I did, everything. I don’t know, let me wait for management to sit down and see how they will compensate me.” said Mura.

Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire, says that more than five police officers lost their properties in the fire. He adds that no loss of life or injuries were registered. Last month, Katwe police station was also burnt, and over ten house units destroyed.