Let us find ways of cooling off without letting off too much steam

The first months of the year are usually dry, hot and dusty in Uganda. This year has been no exception; the last few weeks have seen temperatures soaring above 30 degrees centigrade and no rain.

According to the Department of Meteorology, at this time of year Uganda receives winds originating from the Arabian Desert. These winds track through Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan losing all moisture along the way and picking up fine particles of desert sand as they move along, thus creating hazy conditions in Uganda. Kampala’s noisy herd of old cars, lorries and omnibus taxis (matatus) have ground our murram roads to a fine red powder, which, mixed with exhaust fumes, make the seasonally poor air quality even poorer and life unbearable.

The social mood seems to be reflecting the weather. People’s tempers are constantly frayed over all manner of issues, big and small. The population is rising and rising fastest among the poorest in society. The economy is bad and its bad state is most keenly felt by the people at the bottom of the economic pile – the rural and urban poor. All over the country social and cultural bonds are breaking under the weight of a global cultural onslaught. Family and community are no longer what they used to be but it’s not quite clear is being introduced in their place other than random atomisation.
All these factors are generating social, economic and political overheating.

The weather and its apparent aggravating effect on the social mood reminded me of Spike Lee’s film, Do the Right Thing from 1989, which told the story of how a series of seemingly innocuous events and odd ball characters stirred up everybody’s hate, prejudices and bigotry into an explosion of violence and public disorder in a Brooklyn neighbourhood on, what happened to be, the hottest day of the year.

The heat was a catalyst in starting several arguments first at a domestic level and then between various characters on the street. The extreme heat also played a part in driving many of the residents of the poor neighbourhood onto the streets, just in time for them to get caught up in the big argument that blew up between one loudmouthed and self assured resident, called Buggin’ Out, and an equally loudmouthed and bigoted local restaurant owner, called Sal.

The argument was about the lack of pictures of black role models up on the wall of what was an Italian-owned and run restaurant in a predominantly African-American neighbourhood. The argument escalated when Sal used a racially derogatory term. Sal then called the Police. The Police responded by forcefully effecting an arrest of the black men, Bugging Out and his friend Radio Rahim, who were arguing for the promotion of African-American role models. Radio Raheem was put in a tight choke hold on account of his build and strength and died as a result of suffocation. This escalated the situation from a loud and principled contest over something small into a violent riot and orgy of xenophobic violence over the murder of Radio Raheem!

Every night that you watch the news lately, take the time to count just how many reports revolve around or involve some sort of public order incident.
These days, anything and everything, be it family meetings; market association business; management of public transportation; or even residents protesting the attempted relocation of a village python, seems to end up in some sort of public display of displeasure by a group of people.

It would also appear that the Uganda Police has been instructed to respond to any form of apparent public disorder with tear gas, percussive grenades and, if the public order situation persists for more than a few minutes, with live rounds from their AK 47 assault rifles.

Basically where two or three are gathered in a public display of displeasure about anything tear gas and live bullets will (soon) be in their midst! We are sitting on a, literally, tinder dry situation. Let us find ways of cooling off without letting off too much steam and if the steam is inevitable, let those in charge of public order realise that their heavy-handed actions can lead to unfortunate escalations with catastrophic results.

Mr Mpanga is an advocate
dfkm@afmpanga.co.ug, Twitter: @dfkm1970