Police leadership has come under renewed scrutiny over allegations that some officers are extorting money from crime victims to access footage from the national CCTV camera system, a service that is supposed to be free.
The concerns come as several victims in Kampala allege they were asked to pay between 30,000 and 50,000 shillings to have footage reviewed at police stations. One of them is Amon Agaba, a resident of Nankulabye-Kiwunya, who told Uganda Radio Network that he gave his motorcycle registration number UGB 271Z to his friend Robert Magezi of Nansana on an arrangement that Magezi would remit 30,000 shillings daily.
Agaba says Magezi paid well for three months but disappeared on 24th August 2026 and his phones went off on 30th August. After two weeks of searching, he reported the theft at Old Kampala Police Division under reference number 48/01/09/2026.
According to Agaba, the officer who recorded the case told him police would help him trace the suspect through CCTV cameras, since Magezi operated near the Nansana Division headquarters where cameras are present.
“The officer gave the reference and said he was going to help me, by going into the CCTV camera room to trace for the suspect wherever he rides. The officer then asked me for 50,000 shillings, but I only had 30,000 shillings in my wallet. He said I can pay that amount, which I did,” Agaba says.
He claims after paying, the officer entered the CCTV room with another officer in charge of cameras, spent about five minutes, and returned to tell him that the movement had been reviewed, and he should go and cross-check at Nansana, Rubigi and the City Mortuary for the suspect.
Agaba says he visited Nansana and Rubigi the next morning but did not find the suspect. At Nansana, he alleges officers also asked him for 30,000 shillings to check the cameras, which he could not raise. He is currently stranded without hope that his motorcycle will be traced and returned to him or even that the suspect will be arrested, yet the motorcycle was a source of his income for his family.
He is appealing to the police top authorities to help him in investigating and arresting the suspect, whose details have been given to the police.
In another incident, Charles Ssempala told Uganda Radio Network that his motorcycle, registration number UGF 387N, was stolen on April 9, 2026, while parked outside the Natete police station’s quarter guard area. According to Ssempala, he had accompanied his brother to the police station to stand surety and process a police bond for a colleague.
He says officers on duty directed them to park outside the station together with other motorcycles. However, after spending about 20 minutes inside the station, they reportedly returned and found the motorcycle missing.
Ssempala says officers at the quarter guard denied responsibility for the security of the parked motorcycles despite the theft occurring in broad daylight near the station entrance. He further alleges that when he sought access to CCTV footage, he was informed that he would have to pay before the footage could be reviewed.
In Najjanankumbi, electronics shop owner Musa Okello says two men broke into his shop just after midnight, emptied the display of phones, and left on a boda boda. Two public CCTV units on nearby junction poles captured the incident.
Okello says at the police station, the detective who received him said the images were clear, but the system was busy and needed facilitation for the technical team, airtime, a little something to move the file faster.
Okello said he paid 50,000 shillings, then additional money days later for “fuel” to pull footage from the command centre and for coordination with other stations for the arrests to be made successfully. Similar complaints have emerged on various social media platforms, with users alleging that footage is accessed instantly when high-profile victims are involved, while ordinary citizens are asked to pay.
Police Spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke has condemned the practice, saying investigation with the help of cameras is entirely the role of police and not for personal payment by complainants. “It is completely a role of police to carry investigations with the help of cameras, not for personal payment of complainants.” Kituuma said.
Kituuma acknowledged that there are officers who illegally demand money for camera checks, but said such acts are illegal and only members of the public can help eliminate them by reporting with evidence.
“Cleaning wrong elements is a role of every citizen, but Ugandans have accepted the wrong process, they pay to those people for services which is completely free,” he said. “Come to us, show us the evidence, we can even cover you, for the sake of cleaning our environment.”
He said victims who need footage in their possession can formally write to the Regional Police Commander with incident details, description and reasons, and footage can be released, especially where connivance or tampering is suspected. Police have urged the public to report officers who demand money for CCTV access checking to the Professional Standards Unit, a police unit mandated with disciplining errant officers.
The camera promise, the national CCTV project was ordered by President Yoweri Museveni in his June 2018 address to Parliament after a wave of assassinations, including that of AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi and Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga.
Museveni said government initially planned 3,233 cameras in Kampala Metropolitan in phase one. By July 2019, police said over 2,547 cameras, had been installed and linked to the National Command Centre at Naguru. The network has since been expanded to another cities-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
