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Few women turn up in firearm re-registration exercise
2006-08-08 09:04:06
By Lydia Shekighenda and Beatrice Mlyansi of SAUT
As the re-registration of firearms proceeds only two women have turned up for the exercise in the three police stations in Dare es Salaam as surveyed by The Guardian yesterday.
This paper found that out of 241 people who went for re-registration since the exercise started last week, only two women have turned up.
Buguruni Police Officer Commanding District (OCD), Akili Mpwapwa, said the right to own firearms is open to everyone who meet the required qualifications and there are many women who own firearms even though they haven’t gone for re-egistration.
’’So far the exercise is proceeding well and more than 101 firearms have been registered at my station,’’ said Mpwapwa.
Maulidi Saidi Mpandu, a resident of Tandika and who owns a firearm commended the exercise and urged the government to establish a system which could enable firearms owners to meet and discuss the issues related to armed robbery.
’’I was not aware if Temeke municipal has a large number of people owning firearms,’’ he said, adding after the exercise the government should conduct an operation to know those who own the firearms illegally.
He said the exercise will ease the process of identifying suspects in case of incidents like armed robbery.
He, however, urged people legally owning firearms to show up in selected stations so that they may not be in trouble when the search is conducted.
Re-registration exercise is also being undertaken in several upcountry towns to legalise over 87,000 firearms in private hands, according to police sources.
The exercise would help to update the records and the police to track down owners of the arms and determine whether the ownership is legal or not.
Re-registration of firearms is being undertaken in compliance with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Nairobi protocols on proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Great Lakes Region, which have already been ratified by Tanzania.
The protocols will be domesticated under the Firearms and Ammunition Act.
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