I can’t bell the cat, I won’t bell the cat, but will you?

What you need to know:

  • Brought back. Whatever the texture of his story, there can be no justification for the super ruthless treatment Mr Kawooya suffered in the vicinity of Christ the King Church. Yes, Christ the King. Nothing is sacred. It is State Research Bureau revived. The panda gari chaps would be impressed too.

The trashing of Ugandan lives gets ever more brazen. Now the brutalisation takes place literally in broad daylight. Deal with it, you unwashed subjects.
This harks back to an era that some truly thought was behind us. What moral legitimacy does President Museveni have to govern anymore?

Gun-clobbered in front of tens of witnesses 10 days ago, Mr Yusuf Kawooya — rebel sympathiser or not, stoner of presidential convoy or not, Muslim radical or not — will some day tell his story.

Whatever the texture of his story, there can be no justification for the super ruthless treatment Mr Kawooya suffered in the vicinity of Christ the King Church. Yes, Christ the King. Nothing is sacred. It is State Research Bureau redux. The panda gari chaps would be impressed too.

The long stain on our security system, pressed harder in place by a depraved ruling political elite, will just not allow to be washed away. The curse is generational and real.
A big question that people have asked and demands reflection is: how are people perceived to be NRM government enemies treated in the middle of the night, far away from any gazing eyes?

Five men, security operatives, not only subdued their victim, they saw fit to do so in the vilest way possible. They savaged Mr Kawooya with the butts of their guns, targeting his waist area. The men saw a man-eating beast in front of them. They attacked the beast, or else. But, more likely, they did what they did because they can do it. They did it because they are used to doing it. It is their special modus operandi.

We are in a time in Uganda where anyone is sub-human if he or she is seen to oppose President Museveni’s political programme to stay in power until he naturally no longer can. We no longer accuse such people of being bipinga or obscurantists and leave it at that. They are mortal enemies deserving of the cruellest punishment.

No more shame. No more scruples. Nothing. Just the raw, raw pursuit of power.
This behaviour has been long in coming. Last year, security agents, of the type who bloodied Mr Kawooya, bludgeoned out of the parliamentary debate chamber MPs opposed to the age-limit changes in the Constitution to allow for a life-presidency. However rowdy those MPs were, their treatment was unacceptable.
On that day, with that desecration of Parliament, we turned a corner back into a political abyss we thought we had clambered out of decades ago.

Once you get wananchi used to the idea that you can smash Parliament, having invaded the courts in November 2005 and March 2007, nothing can stay beyond reach. Certainly not pesky “elements” like Mr Kawooya, a boisterous Opposition activist. All depth has been plumbed. Onward and downward.

Dozens of people witnessed Mr Kawooya’s nightmare in the glare of daylight. They looked so much like the zombies that witnessed Idi Amin’s firing squads in the 1970s at Clock Tower and at City Square in Kampala. They did not cheer (as in the ’70s), but neither did they rush to his rescue. They feared the gun. So they said. They were right. Maybe. I suspect, however, that we are at a point where we accept bad behaviour by our security operatives. It’s abhorrent only if it happens to us or family members or close friends. It is a scary place to be.

Even scarier when the offending operatives are charged before a mere unit disciplinary court with brutal arrest and failure to follow standard operating procedure — lesser charges than inhuman/degrading treatment/punishment. The good soldiers sitting in judgement never even bothered to tell us the names of the accused. The arrogance tips scales.

As brave human rights lawyers have said, this is a matter for the criminal courts, or the General Court Martial in the very least. And, as many quickly and astutely observed, there is a cover-up underway. It is blatant. The system is protecting its own. That means the system is not outraged.
We are not outraged.

What will get us really enraged enough to challenge the barbarity? My guess is that each one of us is looking to the next person to start. It is a fair enough human instinct. It is one, however, that means each of us is averting his or her gaze. Meanwhile bad things continue to happen.

Bernard Tabaire is a media trainer and commentator on public affairs based in Kampala.
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Twitter:@btabaire