By George Bukenya
As Uganda Joins the rest of Africa to commemorate the International Amnesty month, government has granted amnesty to all people who are handling firearms illegally.
This was announced Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Simon Peter Mundeyi while addressing reporters at Uganda Media today.
He said that anybody having fire arm/s can surrender them voluntarily within this month and he/ she will not be subjected to law because of the Amnesty that government granted to those holding guns illegally.
“As we commemorate the African Amnesty month now, individuals are called upon to freely surrender to government these weapons before the Amnesty month end. The will not be arrested nor prosecuted, “Mundey said.
He further said, “It doesn’t matter what you have been using it for. If the period then the long arm of government will continue hunting whoever is holding any sort of firearms illegally.”
The head of Department of small ammunition and light weapons at Internal Affairs ACP Florence Kirabira emphasized the need for voluntary disarmament saying this help to curb down crimes, which culminate from use of firearms.
She also said that a recent study indicated that there are 40m illicit firearms globally in the hands of individuals and of those 5m are in Africa.
“ We need to undertake a local study to find out how many small and light firearms are in hands of individuals in Uganda,’’ Kirabira said.
This year’s commemoration will be under the theme: ‘’Safer Communities through Voluntary Disarmament,’’