We kill LC1, endanger our security, then we complain

Bernard Tabaire

What you need to know:

  • In much of the country, however, Ugandans have no idea who their LC1 chairperson is, let alone knowing, especially for those under 30, what the lower level LC system is about.
  • The result has been insecurity, leaving the police with not much of a clue how to proceed with some criminal investigations.

Once upon a time, there was the Local Council (LC) system. Okay, there is still the LC system in some form.
The more interesting rung of that system was the LC1. It was closest to the wananchi because it was located next door in the smallest village or zone. We voted its leaders by lining up behind favourite candidates.
And then, for no clear reason, the LC1 system — hailed by many as revolutionary for supplanting the despotic institution of colonial chief by handing power to the small people to manage their own affairs — was let to fall into slumber.

LC1 (village) and LC2 (parish) elections haven’t even been held in more than 15 years despite repeated demands from citizens to renew the mandate of these critical leadership centres. The nine-member councils patrolled villages for security, resolved petty crimes, adjudicated some domestic disputes. Plus much more.
Now we are regretting “killing” a good thing. Nowhere are active LC1s missed than in the area of security. The law mandates the LC1 to “assist in the maintenance of law, order and security”. Whenever there is a rise in cases of insecurity in some part of the country, we remember what the LC1s used to do, and are supposed to do.

Security minister Henry Tumukunde is ruing things. He told Daily Monitor the other day: “These LCs are affecting our own security. They were the basis of security network. They could know who has slept where, where does he come from and who has he come with.”
In those long-ago days, if you moved house, you had to report to the LC1 chairperson’s office to register and receive an ID and reveal information such as how many members were in your household. If you received a visitor, you reported to the same office. Some admirable LC chairpersons are still keeping the tradition going.

In much of the country, however, Ugandans have no idea who their LC1 chairperson is, let alone knowing, especially for those under 30, what the lower level LC system is about.
The result has been insecurity, leaving the police with not much of a clue how to proceed with some criminal investigations. The police chief these days goes on about neighbourhood watches. He must have forgotten that LCs once existed and actually worked.
All this stuff is about choices made by those in government, especially President Yoweri Museveni. Lower council elections have been postponed many times, including this year, because of reported lack of money.

In the meantime, Mr President expanded the size of Parliament, expanded the size of Cabinet, increased the number of districts, named even more presidential advisors/assistants, and doled out multibillion-shilling handshakes to already well-paid public servants for doing their normal job.
These schemes to buy the political support of elites and stay in power cost money. A lot of money. Yet they have neither brought security nor prosperity to Uganda. At least vibrant LCs, going by the reasoning of Gen Tumukunde and others like him, would have contributed to improved security because of their nosing around all the time.
After the July 11, 2010, World Cup twin bombings in Kampala some of us cried out for LCs. If they were active, possibly they could have sniffed out the bomb-makers hiding in walled off and gated houses in the city.

Nothing was done. So here we are with prominent people like AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi gunned down “just like that” in broad daylight.
Maybe we will go ahead and hold those elections, get new people in office, and facilitate them with bicycles or motorbikes. Basically we need to breathe life into the lower LC system. It is a good thing that should be kept.
The nearly Shs40 billion suggested as the budget for the elections is a cost worth incurring for Ugandans to secure themselves better.

Mr Tabaire is the co-founder and director of programmes at African Centre for Media Excellence in Kampala.
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Twitter:@btabaire