Police/army’s apparent incompetence over massacres in Masaka inexcusable

It is almost impossible to say anything refreshingly different about how Ugandans are saddened and perplexed about the senseless killings in Masaka. Nearly everything has been said.

The questions to ask are as many as civilians that have been butchered when we have tens of thousands of troops and police just sitting in barracks, waiting to be fed by taxpayers.

What are the soldiers and (military) police doing? What does it take to deploy troops to Masaka to hunt down men who use machetes and other objects to kill innocent people?

Do our intelligence agencies work only in Kampala? If they are everywhere in the country, how can they fail to gather the intelligence the government needs to get to the root of the problem?

Why are the attacks on civilians happening again? In August 2019, we were dealing with the news of murders, rapes, abductions in Entebbe and Wakiso. These are crimes against humanity and usually happen in war situations. Were the culprits arrested and punished? Do the families and friends of the victims know? Have they had justice? Have they had closure? Did we learn any lessons?

When you ask questions of this nature, you lay yourself open to charges of being (irritatingly) naive. 
There is a reason that makes Ugandans doubt the government does not know what is going on in Masaka and is simply failing to act for reasons of its own.

Uganda has previously sent troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia and Equatorial Guinea. Three of these countries are not even our neighbours. One of them, Equatorial Guinea, is peaceful.

Yet soldiers who earn salaries paid by Ugandans and whose entire well-being is dependent on Ugandans can go to secure peace in foreign lands but cannot go to Masaka! Does this make sense? 

You do not need parliamentary approval to send 5,000 soldiers to Masaka to camp there for, say, six months and ensure the “pigs” murdering Ugandans are eliminated. Deployment of troops locally does not require millions of dollars, especially for an operation where the enemies are just pigs. 

No air travel is involved. All you need are army trucks, fuel, bags of maize flour, beans and a few other items for the security forces to begin work.

What is more, there is already an army barracks in Masaka. You do not need large-scale troop movement. The weather is great. The soldiers can sleep anywhere; they understand the language the locals speak. How can the government fail to protect the people of Masaka?

Why spend millions of money patrolling neighbourhoods and residences of Opposition politicians who have never killed anyone and fail to send security forces where they are needed? Security forces are deployed in two shakes of a lamb’s tail whenever NUP chief Bobi Wine and Kizza Besigye hold rallies. Why not do the same for Masaka?

Mr Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
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