Why not a lifestyle audit to check rat race among ultra-rich security chiefs?

This week, President Museveni addressed Parliament on the deteriorating security situation in the country and outlined certain measures to stem the rising tide of violent crime across the country. The speech was greeted with scepticism because this is not the first time the President has vowed to crush the criminal gangs that have killed so many citizens.
Following the arrests of Boda Boda 2010 kingpins and certain police officers, including the former Inspector General of Police, it became clear that those who had captured the police and allowed criminal gangsters to embed themselves within the force were being motivated by the urge to accumulate as much wealth as possible in the shortest possible time. The same situation seems to obtain in the other security forces albeit in a smaller degree.

The horror stories we hear and read about sound like something out of the memoirs of mafia dons. We have read of plots involving senior police officers who extort huge sums of money from citizens. In some cases lives have reportedly been taken as rival fiefdoms battle for power and money. Young police officers have won the favour and trust of Museveni by undermining their colleagues. As a result, this group has amassed unspeakable wealth.

We thus need a lifestyle audit. A lifestyle audit will expose those people earning modest salaries but drive fuel guzzlers, own posh houses and apartment blocks and rental units. They hang around high end restaurants and hotels and throw lavish wedding parties.
We talk of the security honchos because their appetite for money can make them fall for temptations from sources whose aim may be to undermine Uganda’s national security.

We have civil servants who have obscene amounts of wealth. These are the paper pushers who facilitate some of the fraudulent transactions which stand in the way of the government betting value for money in contracts. But above these ‘small fry’ there are the highly placed people who get the bigger share of the loot. Most of these have their property overseas and stash away their stolen money in numbered Swiss Banks.
The debate over security should, however, not cloud the key issues affecting our country. First, is the runaway indebtedness facing Uganda. Museveni says our debt is sustainable and manageable on account of certain assets like the oil reserves. In a situation where we don’t have adequate foreign exchange earnings, we are forced to borrow more in order repay previously incurred debts. Unless this issue is resolved we are on a sure road to insolvency.

Second is the collapse of the Luweero consensus and the need for a new consensus. Beneath the veneer we see, Uganda is more divided than ever. The insecurity is thus a symptom of a bigger problem which is the lack of a prevailing national consensus. The proposal for a truth and reconciliation process shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Related to these are the manoeuvres that various factions around the President are said to be engaged in. Each faction is eager to prove that it is the most organised and suitable to rise to the top and preside over the post-Museveni Uganda. The revelations about the rotten underbelly of the regime are signs that the unresolved question of political transition may be the one problem whose solution is the magic wand to unify and clean up our country.
This debate about the capture of the police is still with us. And, the plan of action announced by the President may not be the solution after all. So while giving him the benefit of the doubt, we should remind ourselves of the adage that eventually people do the right thing but not before trying everything else.