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Gruesome murder reignites debate on criminal use of Sim cards in Uganda

Saturday March 03 2018
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Susan Magara, the 28-year-old whose kidnap and murder shocked Uganda. PHOTO | MONITOR | NMG

By RAYMOND TAMALE

A kidnap and gruesome murder in Uganda has reignited debate and a blame-game between security agencies and regulators on the one hand and telcos on the other over the use of unregistered Sim cards in crime.

Telecom firm Airtel has refuted claims that the numbers on its platform that were used by the killers of Susan Magara, daughter of a prominent businessman John Fitzgerald Magara, were unregistered.

Airtel has submitted a report to Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) showing that indeed the numbers were duly registered.

“We sent a report to UCC and the details of when, who and where these numbers were registered,” Faith Bagonzi who is Airtel Uganda head of communications, told The EastAfrican.

Ms Magara, 28, was murdered after a 21-day kidnap ordeal. Her captors demanded a $1 million ransom but were paid $200,000 by her father. They reportedly sent to Mr Magara a video of her pleading for her life as they chopped off two of her fingers.

Facing intense public anger and criticism, security agencies blamed their failure to arrest the kidnappers using information from 17 Sim cards they used to call the family on unregistered cards.

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The mobile telecoms market in Uganda is dominated by South African giant MTN, India’s Bharti Airtel, Uganda Telcom and Africel.

Security Minister Gen Henry Tumukunde was quoted as having told mourners at Ms Magara’s burial last Thursday that after calling the family, the criminals would dump the phone used and change location, making it difficult for security agents to track them.

On March 29 last year, the UCC directed all telecom companies to switch off unregistered Sim cards and stop the sale of pre-activated ones, but the deadline was later pushed to August 30, 2017 by President Museveni following widespread complaints from the public and the telecoms themselves.

A surge in crime has unsettled the country, but answers from the security agencies are neither forthcoming nor convincing. Last year, 23 women were murdered and their bodies dumped in Katabi Township in Entebbe and Nansana municipality. Police made some arrests but no successful prosecution has been made so far.

President Museveni has promised to find and bring to account Miss Magara’s murderers, a promise not dissimilar to the one he made when he visited the homes of the “Entebbe Women” in 2017.

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