Police probes hotels, bars, over New Year fireworks 

By Isaac Otwii 

Police in Lira has launched an inquiry into circumstances under which some hotels and bars let off fireworks for beyond the allocated time.

While ushering in the New Year, police cleared at least 28 places including churches to let off fireworks with instructions not to exceed five minutes.

However, the Regional Police spokesperson for North Kyoga said some without seeking for permissions ignored the guidelines that were earlier issued by police.

"Unfortunately some places displayed fireworks beyond the stipulated five minutes. We believe this is due to business competition and weakness on the security officers who did not participate vigorously in supervision," said the Police spokesperson for North Kyoga. 

Prior to the new year celebrations, police in North Kyoga region issued a statement guiding hotels, bars and churches on the safe way of using the fireworks. These include prior advertisements on local radio stations, TVs and newspapers.

The cleared places were also assigned counterterrorism officers and police officers to supervise and monitor the fireworks display.

But Okema said the officers who were deployed to supervise and monitor the cleared places are yet to account for what exactly transpired.

"You will realise that some places went beyond 15 minutes which is against the stipulated guidlines. The company who provided the blaster services will be summoned because they were briefed on the time to display fireworks," he said.