Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Security in Arua City has banned the sale of alcoholic drinks and drugs around football grounds as the secondary school Ball Games commence on Friday. The ban is among other strict guidelines security has issued to ensure peace and security during the tournaments.
Over the past years, secondary school ball games in the city and other districts in the West Nile region have been marred with cases of violent fights among students of especially rival schools which often results in injuries, destruction of school properties and sometimes loss of life.
Josephine Angucia, the West Nile Region Police Spokesperson, says that the sale of alcohol and drugs around selected football grounds is banned. She says that they have tasked LCI Chairpersons in liaison with the area police to take control of the game to ensure a peaceful tournament.
According to police, any student who is found breaking the guidelines for the tournament will be personally held liable for his/her action.
“Unlike in the past where schools were banned from competitions for mistakes by their students, this year it was decided that no school shall be banned but each student shall be liable for his or her wrong action”, reads in parts the police statement.
Other security measures issued by the security operatives include a ban on parents and old students from participating in moral boosting the students. Meanwhile, students from the participating schools will attend matches in their respective school uniforms for purposes of easy identification in case of misconduct.
Rashid Droma, the vice technical committee chairperson for Arua City Secondary School ball games challenged the schools and their fans to exhibit high levels of discipline during the games and learn to accept the outcome of the games.
Some of the football grounds that have been identified to host the games among others include, St. Peters Seed Aliba SS, St. Mary’s Ediofe Girls’ SS, St Joseph’s College Ombaci, STs Peter and Paul Seminary Pokea, Jiako Primary School and Ilifura stadium Onduparaka.
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