Work with, not against citizens to curb crime

In the past eight years, several murders have been executed in various parts of Uganda; in towns and villages alike. The murders in the villages have been characterised by house break-ins in the night and hacking of the hapless victims using machetes.
Contrary to the murders in the villages, the murders in town have been executed in broad day light, early in the morning or in the evening. Almost none has been executed late in the night. These have been more of assassinations of key figures in the Islam religion and government than just murders. They have also received more media attention and investigations by security agencies than the murders in the villages. All assassinations have a similar pattern of executions as per eyewitnesses; the assailants use motorcycles, they carry guns in sacks and shoot the victims as they retire to their homes or when they are setting off for work. This is an indication that the assailants take time to trail their victims and study the pattern of their movements.

The only common appalling characteristics of murders in the villages and assassinations in the cities are that lives have been lost, the assailants are never found and no security reports have released. However, it’s unfortunate that more attention is focused on the transport means the goons use rather their motive, the choice of the target, how they access guns, how they elude security and the sponsors of these assassinations. It’s obvious that wrong elements will always use the fastest means to execute their missions. This explains why murders in the villages are executed using machetes unlike the guns in the cities. Therefore, the motorcycle is just a means of transport which enhances mobility for both the good people and the bad people alike. Night robbers in towns use vehicles to carry their loot yet those in villages carry the loot on their heads. I regard it a simplistic and narrow view to focus more attention on boda boda trade as a major cause of these unfortunate cases.

It is, therefore, prudent for security agencies and government leaders to focus more on finding out the root causes of the assassinations and their sponsors. They ought to work with the citizenry to get valuable information and the citizenry includes the thousands of boda boda riders across the country, most of whom joined the industry to survive in a highly corrupt economy where they can’t access alternative employment.
Henry Rwabuhinga,
[email protected]