City areas that are habitats of thugs

 

Clock Tower. 

Several places in Kampala have become habitats for thugs; their areas of operation, where your valuables and even life is exposed to risk as you walk or drive through. John K. Abimanyi discloses some of the most notorious crime hot spots.

Clock Tower
This is a crowded place, where traffic jam is rampant. The street-smart thieves lay about, prowling, waiting to pounce on luggage placed on the passenger seat. They walk through the halted maze of cars, trying their hand at a side mirror or wheel cap.

As you sit in the car, hands swiping away on a smartphone clearly visible through an open window, those maybe your last moments with it. And you do not need to be in a car, as Eva, a mid-20s woman, found out. As she prepared to cross the road, a thug snatched her handbag, with her phone and money purse.

Kisekka Market and Nakivubo Road
Criminals on the Nakivubo Road stretch, which curl from Kisekka market to Ben Kiwanuka Street, hide out in the open. It could be anybody, from the cargo-carrying porter, to the taxi tout, to the sharp looking shirt and tie fellow. They are largely petty pickpockets, taking opportunity of the streets crowded with human traffic to steal. Because there is likely to be more than five people pressing against you at any time, you may not even be able to tell who picked your pocket.

Jjunju Road, Behind Wandegeya Mosque
It is the road that passes behind the Wandegeya mosque, on the South Eastern side of Makerere University. A relatively busy and populated road by day, it is a deserted by night, a spot university students have learned to avoid when darkness falls. One victim relates how upon walking through the road in the night, he ran into two men, toying with a metal bar. They robbed him of his mobile phone.

New Port Bell Road
The sections of this road dreaded for their notoriety for crime, come right after Makerere University Business School. It is at that spot as you face Bugolobi, as you begin your descent downhill, running over the railway line, before the hostels in the valley.

Victims say the thugs hide in the thick grasses by the roadside, before jumping out to rob pedestrian. One victim, Nicholas, a mid 20s man, was walking from Capital Shoppers Supermarket, and just before reaching the bridge over the railway line, three men with machetes jumped from the darkness robbed him.

Mukwano roundabout
It is supposed to be a secure spot. When its traffic grinds to a halt, there are police personnel about. Yet so daring are the thieves at this spot that they ignore this threat, and the fact that you are watching them, to fidget with and pull out side-mirrors from your car.

Nsambya Road and Nsambya traffic lights
The section from Clock Tower, to the Nsambya traffic lights is a danger zone. Somewhere halfway the stretch, the road meets the railway line, running from up at the Kampala Railway Station. It is around this intersection that thugs terrorise against pedestrians. Bodaboda cyclists at Clock Tower say the thugs wait off the road, and when an unsuspecting pedestrian comes, they leap out, usually with metal bars, onto the pedestrian. They then drag their victim inside, along the railway line where they rob them.

If you are in a car, you are not safe either. As you stop at the Nsambya traffic lights at the hilltop, they will follow you there attempt to steal your side mirrors, especially during evening traffic.

Wilson Road, William Street, Arua Park
At night these three spots are the epicentre of brutal robbery, where thugs attack not just to steal but to permanently maim their victims as well. The street-smart sharp looking conmen find a home here too.