Should UK travel advisory stir fear among Ugandans?

After the June 16 attack on Mpondwe Lhubiriha Community Secondary School in Kasese District that left dozens of students dead, there is some sense of fear among the population in Kasese.

 Stories of suspected rebels seen or detected in this or that place are rife. I have been told there is a self-imposed curfew (people return home early) in the whole of Kasese District. There is this particular story of a young man seen harvesting maize from the field in the neighbourhood. But before the identity of the thief was revealed, a community ‘advisory’ had automatically been  issued to the effect that rebels had been detected in Kiburara.

 Enter the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland! The government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (better known as the British government), recently issued an advisory to British citizens on issues related to their safety and security in Uganda.

 The government of Uganda felt the advisory carried the potential to unsettle the tourism industry (reliant on foreigners); and cause anxiety among the citizenry.

I spoke to someone inside the British government who is expected to know (and must know) about the story behind the new advisory. This person’s response was that there is no advisory or alert; and that they just moved from awareness of “safety and security” to “terrorism” (particularly after the Mpondwe attack).   “There has been no change to the level of the advice. For over two years, we have said “terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Uganda. Attacks could be indiscriminate or against foreign nationals or places frequented by foreign nationals,” this person said.

 My understanding was that “after the terror incident at Mpondwe Lhubiriha Community Secondary School, the British government added possible terrorist attack onto the general message of safety and security to British citizens in Uganda.  Well, that didn’t stop the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala from engaging officials of the British High Commission in Uganda on the matter.

 What is disturbing me is the way Uganda’s security apparatus reacted. I was told some highly ranked officers of the UPDF were seen in the central business district (in Uganda we call it downtown) of Kampala talking to people. The pictures I saw on social media betrayed a sense of randomness and indifference on the part of the military guys. It was not a reassuring act, to say the least.

 Now, one may ask: before the British advisory, what was the level of alertness issued by the government of Uganda? Do we have to react to advisories from foreigners? Because, in all honesty, these people will always try to advise their citizens on certain issues regarding their security and safety in foreign countries.

 Crime is the act of undermining an individual or community’s life (social, economic etc) and resources.  Insecurity is caused by an act or acts or a situation that undermines state authority or renders it (the state) ineffective or weak to exercise the said authority.

 There is no defining factor of state authority than the power, capacity, willingness, and deportment to detect and fight crime. The Police is the state agency responsible for detecting, preventing, and fighting crime while civil intelligence agencies (like ISO and ESO) are responsible for fighting insecurity.

 It would be reassuring if these state agencies issued a crime or security or terror alert for Ugandans in Uganda. Ugandans really  need the reassurance that Uganda is not under any security threat to warrant panic or a sense of anxiety. And yes, Uganda is not under any threat to warrant a panicky reaction from state security agencies.

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]