The police spokesperson, Kituuma Rusoke has urged the public to strongly desist from indulging in the life-threatening act of ferrying fuel from accident scenes of overturned fuel tankers in their areas of residence.
His warning comes after pictures and videos circulating on social media showed the residents of Busolwa, Bugiri district, carrying jerrycans of fuel from an oil tanker that had lost control and overturned on February 9, 2025.
Kituuma, speaking at the weekly security presser on February 10, 2025, strongly condemned the act, citing the gruesome Kigogwa inferno last year along Bombo Road in which many lost their lives and others were left in agony from severe burns when an overturned fuel tanker burst into flames moments after locals started siphoning fuel.
“It was not so long ago when we lost people. Now we have photos of people carrying jerrycans again to go and siphon fuel,” Kituuma said.
However, he attributed most of these unfortunate incidents to the inadequate police and public response in handling emergencies of such magnitude.
‘’As police, we find it difficult to always prevent it upfront because these vehicles drop where citizens stay. So usually these citizens are the first to arrive at the scenes of accidents. So when we come in as second responders, at times we find an incident has already occurred,” Kituuma stated.
He expressed his concern over these incidents, issuing a stern warning to the public to drop the siphoning vice and instead immediately vacate the accident scene to avoid further damage.
‘’We call upon all leaders that this message should be taken seriously. The tendency of people rushing with jerricans to scoop fuel after an accident seems to be persistent,” he added.
Kituuma then reiterated police responsibility in informing people using media platforms to curb such vices that pose a danger to human life and ensure safety in communities.
Similarly, today morning at around 12:30 am in Jinja City, a fire engulfed a garage/carpentry with many workshops on Spire Road in Jinja Central Road belonging to Nanambi Stephen, and a lot of property was lost, which the police managed to contain.
According to a recent performance report from the Uganda Police Force (UPF), the number of fatalities from road crashes increased by 6%, rising from 4,534 in 2022 to 4,806 in 2023. The report also indicated a 10% rise in serious injuries, with numbers increasing from 15,227 in 2022 to 16,736 in 2023. Additionally, minor injuries surged by 86%, going from 1,712 in 2022 to 3,186 in 2023.
