Address root cause of high crime rate

No words are strong enough to condemn the brazen assassination of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi and his two aides. It was a reprehensible, cowardly act by deranged criminals.
We share the shock and grief caused by the killings and encourage everyone to join in prayers and support for the families, colleagues and friends of the three people as they struggle to cope with an incomprehensible loss.
It is a grim reminder that police officers who serve and protect us every day do so knowing that even the most innocent moment or encounter can explode into life-threatening danger. The blood is solely on the hands of the unbalanced men who made the twisted, ruthlessly premeditated, cold-blooded decision to shoot and kill a high ranking police officer and his aides. These men are living a very precarious existence.

The outpouring of sympathy and affection for Kaweesi’s young family was at once uplifting and surprisingly hollow. Every time we see his wife and children, lives changed forever, we want them to know that we empathise with their unimaginable loss. Now that Kaweesi has been laid to rest, we will go about our business, sadness fading quickly.
In the hubbub of tributes and emotion, hard questions remain. It has been a week, and we know little about the criminals. Who are these people? Where did they get their assault weapons? What events led to this tragedy? There has been increasing tension and violence between law enforcement and people in the community. It is good to show support and to mourn when such events shatter lives.

We are not addressing the root of these tragedies, spending more time in emotions than solutions. Why was the police chief not provided enough protection? It is easy to imagine why every interaction is tense if officers faced every call with the possibility of being shot. We show solidarity with this family who will never be the same again.
That is the best of our community. If we stop there, it is a shallow exercise that will only repeat until we are willing to do more than just make political statements.
Stephen Siima,
[email protected]