| Centre to procure software | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 03 July 2010 07:57 |
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The Regional Centre on Small Arms (Recsa) is procuring a database software to facilitate firearms marking, record keeping and trade of light weapons in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa. Speaking at a two-day regional workshop in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, the Recsa Monitoring and Evaluation head, Mr Nestory Mpembela, said with the database software, small arms and light weapons particulars would be at finger tips. “This product will immensely and positively contribute in the prevention, combating and eradication of illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in the region,” the deputy commissioner of police said. According to him, Great Lakes and Horn of Africa was one of areas mostly affected by illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, which were threatening social progress in the region. Proliferation and growth of illicit trade in small arms and light weapons posed a serious challenge to governments and peoples. “It is a multifaceted scourge that negatively affect all aspects of human society, security and civilisation,” he explained. The workshop aimed at harmonising small arms and light weapons record keeping in the region. The Recsa executive secretary, Dr Francis Sang, said the organisation had procured and supplied electronic machines for marking state-owned arms to its 12 member states and three others. The International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) had, according to Dr Sang, given the centre the mandate to mark the arms. “The organisation has embarked on procurement of a suitable software to capture, store and process data on firearms as they are marked. A South African company was contracted to develop the software,” Dr Sang said. Recsa would continue offering technical support to its members, he said, encouraging all member states to thoroughly in a bid to meet the information storage and retrieval needs of the region. The software should ensure information and services by the database are protected and its backup and report generating capabilities are in place to protect against data loss and to enhance reporting, respectively. He said Recsa’s procurement procedures had been strictly followed to ensure the region is supplied with a best product. The head of arms management and disarmament unit (Amad), Mr Lutenta Mwauzi, explained that the unit had facilitated installation of two marking machines at the quartermaster. “We have so far marked about 3,000 firearms,” the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) said. He, however, noted that the exercise was temporarily halted as a result of the machines developing some technical problems. Small arms belonging to state departments were first being marked and that those owned by members of the public would follow. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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