Masaka killings: House urges local leaders’ support

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, yesterday directed all local leaders in the Greater Masaka region to support security agencies as an operation against machete-wielding gangs gathers steam.

The directive was issued shortly after lawmakers deliberated on a statement junior Internal Affairs minister, Gen David Muhoozi, presented to the House on the fortnight-long killings. Ms Among tasked leaders in the panic-stricken region to come up with actionable solutions.

“It is us to lead security into those areas. These matters can be handled. Let’s not leave everything in Masaka to security alone,” she said.

She added: “We want actions; not coming with lamentations. This issue can be handled because they are not using guns.”

The Deputy Speaker also directed government to put together a special budget to facilitate the process.
“We don’t want an aspect where they will say there was no fuel in these [police] motorcycles,” Ms Among said.

Gen Muhoozi told Parliament that government would deploy more sniffer dogs in the Greater Masaka region to support the effort of apprehending gangs that have killed tens of locals. Gen Muhoozi admitted that “we need to dedicate more dogs in the regions.” This would, however, need additional funding not just to train the sniffer dogs, but also to scale up the presence of security personnel in the said area. 

The junior Internal Affairs minister also revealed that 69 suspects had been arrested, 38 of whom had by close of Monday been cleared for arraignment in court.

LDU recruitment
In response to Gen Muhoozi’s statement, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mr Mathias Mpuuga, moved “to raise the red flag to whoever is recruiting” Local Defence Unit (LDU) personnel in the area. He advised that Local Councils in the area be involved.

Bugweri County legislator Abdu Katuntu also scoffed at plans to recruit additional LDUs. He reasoned that LDUs would only ‘scare’ the rogue elements. 

“Until we address the challenges within our intelligence, this will not change,” Mr Katuntu said.
Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu recommended that districts in the Greater Masaka region stop being placed under curfew. This, he added, will aid the intelligence gathering process.

One of the representatives of the Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF) in Parliament, Lt Col Charity Bainababo, appealed for bipartisan support.

“Let everybody who knows something about this cooperate with us instead of blaming different people for the situation,” Lt Col Bainabaho said.

Gen Muhoozi said any move to revise or take the Greater Masaka region out of curfew will be based on a ‘refined’ plan.