Kidnapping and murder; who exactly are we dealing with?

When Susan Magara (RIP) was kidnapped and gruesomely murdered after a ransom was paid, the country was left in shock. The fact that she was a rich man’s daughter, misled many people to think that this was ‘just’ an isolated case. One of criminals targeting a rich family to make quick and easy money. Now it has become a habit. Kidnap for ransom has nearly reached epidemic proportions. It spreads in all spheres of society – rich and poor, town folks and village folks, children and adults alike.
It is very difficult to tell if this is organised crime or a trend that has developed because criminals have seen a gap in the security apparatus that they can effortlessly exploit to make money and get away with it easily.

These things make many apprehensive in more ways than one. First, the perpetrators have the temerity to openly use mobile phone numbers. Remember Uganda carried out a painstaking exercise last year targeted to register all Sim cards. Those that were not registered were purportedly switched off meaning that every usable number has a name to it. So how come criminals are not bothered about using mobile phone numbers?
Is it possible that there are Sim cards on the market that are not registered thus making a mockery of the much hyped phone registration exercise that matched Sim cards to users’ details on national identity cards?

Secondly, the cases reported in the press where the perpetrators warn the victims’ relatives not to contact police, then follow them round the clock informing them of their movements, especially when they get in touch with the police. Who are these people with this level of sophisticated surveillance capacity?
Do they have eyes and ears within the security set up? What is their real motive? Are they mere criminals or are they agent provocateur or trojan horses intended to bring the security setup and consequently the government into disrepute?

Are there some elements who want to cause an alarming situation so that there are special operations and funds to go along with for their benefit? In other words, do we have a situation on our hands where opportunistic and disgruntled security operatives are trying to stir up the waters to catch some fish? Or if we may ask, is it the Opposition or a foreign country trying to destabilise our peaceful country?
Lastly, has the police or the entire security become so inept and hapless that they are incapable of dealing with such crimes to the extent that the perpetrators of kidnap are hiding in the open without fear of being caught?

Whichever way we look at it, the whole issue of kidnapping and the way it is happening in Uganda today is an indictment on the police force and security set up.
Despite the billions of shillings received in funding for training and equipping themselves for various functions, not much has been done to strengthen their ability to gather intelligence and investigate criminal matters. To their credit, they do very well in (at times brutally) curtailing the political opposition towards the NRM government.
Secondly the number of bad eggs in the institutions is a force to reckon with and their impact is visible and worrying.
These two issues should preoccupy the new management of the Uganda Police Force if it is to make a difference. Another unresolved case of kidnapping is a case too many.

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The Royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle held on May 19 in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom drew a lot of interest from several people in Uganda.
I was quite impressed by the in depth prior knowledge of the intricacies and complexities of the British royal family possessed by many Ugandans on social media. From dates of major events in the House of Windsor to who stood where in the succession (or queue as we call it in Uganda,) and the nationality of the bride plus the parentage of the groom, to spellings, all was in place.

Many of us do not normally show this type of passion and enthusiasm when it comes to issues back home like our elections (we often claim to be apolitical.)
In fact, the last time I witnessed this sort of fever pitch enthusiasm was during the hotly contested US presidential election of 2016 between eventual loser Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton and the 45th President of the USA, the maverick Donald John Trump.

We are indeed good students. Most of our schooling years are spent mastering a Eurocentric syllabus for which we are examined. We do it in English, which language makes us proud, especially when it is spoken with a European or American accent. We also have European names as our first names (first is always best.)
Consequently, anything European or American is worth knowing, understanding and being part of. Little wonder that out of every 10 people you meet who went through school in Uganda, as many as nine may not be in position to write a correct sentence in their mother tongue because we were told these languages and many (indigenous issues) would ‘not take us anywhere.’

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social
issues. [email protected]
Twitter: @nsengoba