It will take another fundamental change for Ugandans to sleep again

Patience Akumu

What you need to know:

  • Expressed shock. Even the President, for all his security acumen, could not sniff out and decisively deal with this rot. In his speech on security to Parliament, he expressed shock that the police investigating the kidnap and murder of women did not ask simple questions that could have led them to the right suspects. Neither did they follow obvious clues such as the most recent call logs of the deceased.

Ugandans cannot sleep anymore. A simple post on a Facebook group revealed this in a way so lucid it was scary. The poster asked a heartbreaking question: How does one recover when everything has been taken away from them? How do you deal with the indignity of watching a stranger invade your house, take your property and threaten your life?
In the nearly 300 comments, people talked about how they wake up everyday at the same time they were robbed, say 2am, and sit through the night until 6am in the morning.

They told about how the trauma of being violently invaded has permeated their lives, causing them to live in paranoia that even professional counselling and prayer has failed to wipe away. For these people and, indeed, many Ugandans, it is going to take more than a macho speech by the President for them to have their lives, and that inherent feeling of security, back.

Before the robberies and murders that hit a crescendo with the raw slaughtering of dozens of women and sophisticated killing of public figures, even President Museveni’s greatest critics would grudgingly admit that he has his pulse on security.
From securing our borders, cracking down on terrorism at a time when we are on al Shabaab’s radar because of Uganda’s involvement in Somalia to foreigners who have marvelled at Uganda’s vibrant night life and the fact that it is possible to walk through Kampala streets at 1am and not be attacked, Uganda is a regional beacon of peace.

President Museveni knows that if this beacon dims, he may have nothing more to offer Ugandans who, despite gnawing poverty and growing inequality, still sing the refrain of “at least we sleep” and let him have the presidential seat he has held for the past 32 years.
We ignore the undercurrents that threatened this much-cherished security. The little boys who grab our purses in the market, the women who are undressed for being ‘indecent’ and sexually harassed for no other reason than that they are women, the stolen side mirror from the car… these have always been ‘minor’ disturbances.
We resignedly accepted mediocrity when we reported these issues to an oblivious police force that, at best, gave us a To Whom it May Concern letter so we could replace documents.

We did not realise that a police force so lackluster about even the smallest security issues could not possibly have the capacity to protect our lives and property when faced with bigger threats. We harplessly ignored the tell-tale signs of a police force that is committed to orders of the invisible men above and that, when they happen to pick an emergency call, prefer a little chat about ethnic origins instead.

Even the President, for all his security acumen, could not sniff out and decisively deal with this rot. In his speech on security to Parliament, he expressed shock that the police investigating the kidnap and murder of women did not ask simple questions that could have led them to the right suspects. Neither did they follow obvious clues such as the most recent call logs of the deceased.
To Ugandans who have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with police, this is not news. The excuses for laxity are abundant. They can be as ridiculous as not having transport or ink in the photocopier or as grave as not having enough resources to run DNA tests necessary to prove a rape case.

Now that we have an executive admission on just how deeply this incompetence runs, we have also been given some executive solutions.
Museveni, in his speech, was perplexed that a more educated police force would fail to get the basics right. So, he went beyond the basics. The solutions are technology and money intensive - involving the installation of cameras and equipment to finger print every gun.
If the president is to be believed, in a few years, with functioning databases, every Ugandan will be traceable. Boda boda riders will have their names emblazoned on their helmets. Our cars, too, will have electronic number plates that can be linked right back to us. And, in a decidedly classist move, it will be illegal for motorcycle riders to wear hoodies.

Did the millions of Ugandans suffering insecurity induced insomnia sleep after listening to the President? Not likely. Instead, they staggered sleep-drunk out of their houses into the reality that police cannot control something as simple as traffic. And that, boda bodas and expensive SUVs alike, will drive right through traffic lights or ride on the wrong side of the road under the nose of a traffic police officer.
Museveni’s superficial solutions are like trying to revive a sick person with a broken-down resuscitator. For one thing, the Inspector General of Police who sat at the helm for 13 years is now believed to have played a key part in building this culture of normalising crime. It will truly take another fundamental change for Ugandans to sleep again.

Ms Akumu is a lawyer, human rights advocate and a
freelance journalist. [email protected]