Traffic Police officers have resumed duty a day after they withdrew from the streets of Kampala leading to major traffic gridlock around the city.
KCCA has criticized the police action saying the traffic officers should not have abandoned their duty.
On Saturday traffic police officers were back on duty on Kampala’s streets and their presence was felt as the traffic flow was far more orderly than it was on Friday when they were withdrawn from their positions.
For most of Friday, motorists and passengers in public transport vehicles in Kampala were stuck in a heavy traffic jam for hours and many even resorted to abandoning their cars as they sought solutions to their predicament.
The Friday gridlock was a result of the temporary withdrawal of traffic officers after the Kampala Capital City Authority had blamed the officers stationed at busy intersections for contributing to the city’s traffic jams.
The Traffic Police Spokesperson Charles Ssebambulidde says they decided to get back to work at 8 pm on Friday despite earlier having said the withdrawal would last for 48 hours.
The KCCA Spokesperson Peter Kaujju says the traffic officers should never have abandoned their duty.
KCCA has already installed 10 LED traffic light systems across the city with 32 more where works are still ongoing.
Many road users in the city can only hope that Friday’s events were an isolated event and will not be the order of the day going forward.