Uganda Police has tasked proprietors of happening places and bar owners to ensure that they don’t allow people who are in a drunken state to drive away.
Speaking to the journalists at the Police Headquarters in Naguru today, August 14, 2023, SCP Fred Enanga, the Uganda Police Spokesperson, confirmed that operations on drunk driving have begun and that a meeting is taking place at the Ministry of Works together with the Ministry of Health.
Enanga therefore asked bar owners to join in the fight against drunk driving since it is the leading cause of accidents in Uganda.
“We caution revellers and other people who drink that if you drink, ensure that you have somebody who will drive. We ask the proprietors of happening places to at least ensure that they don’t allow people who are in a drunken state to drive away, probably from their bars and so on and so forth,” Enanga warned.
According to Enanga, the operations on drunk driving were suspended during the COVID-19 period because it was not safe to continue using the breathalyser due to the possibility of infecting others.
“So right now there is a meeting that is taking place at the Ministry of Works together with officials from the Ministry of Health and Police on how and when these operations should commence. So we shall be informing the public according to the resumption of these operations on drunk driving’’, said Enanga.
Police also alerted the public as they wait for the commencement of the operations that drunk driving is punishable by law and about the need to gently enforce the initiative.
The Ministry of Health in Uganda recommended the immediate reintroduction of breathalysers to test alcohol levels consumed by motorists. This was in a statement issued on Saturday, August 12, 2023, where it directed the Uganda Police to immediately reinstate the use of breathalysers, locally known as ‘kawunyemu‘.
