President Museveni has lashed at corrupt police officers for letting criminals terrorize Ugandans, urging members of the public to be vigilant in the wake of criminals in Kampala and other areas.
In a statement on Saturday, the president noted that a corrupt-free police that responds quickly to distress calls will wipe out criminality, adding that those in danger should find ways of calling police quickly.
He added that the installation of cameras will boost the already existing capabilities in dealing with crim.
This follows the attack and killing of Arch Rwego in Najjera recently. Below is the presidents statement in full.
Dear Countrymen, Countrywomen and Bazzukulu.
There were two incidents of crime that I would like to draw to your attention. One was in the Najjera area where one of our people, Archie Rwego, was brutally murdered in the front of his wife around 3am in the morning (in the English way of speaking). In the African way, it was at the 9th hour of the night (sat tisa za usiku). The following morning some suspects were arrested, one of them suspected to have been bitten by Rwego’s dog before they entered the house to kill him.
In Naluvule, on Hoima Road, the criminals invaded the house of my Resistance War comrade Hajjati Bakari, started beating her and demanding money.
A neighbour rang the Police in Wakiso who ordered the policemen at Ssenge to respond. The Police responded immediately. They arrived on the scene as the criminals were still torturing Mama Bakari and attacked the thieves. One was killed, another one injured and the rest fled. The Police captured the mobile phone of the dead thief and all the other thieves fled, some with injuries.
What was the difference in the two incidents? In one incident, the residents rang the Police in time. In the other incident, nobody rang the Police. The wife of Rwego made an alarm but since it was raining nobody heard the alarm. The better alarm is to ring the Police. I have already directed the Police to make available to the public the telephone contacts of the nearest police posts so as to save time.
The crime has two elements. The purely criminal elements like these two incidents and the other incidents that are a bit political like the killing of Abiriga, the Sheikhs, Kiggundu, Joan Kagezi etc. In all these cases, it has been the corruption of the Police and the lack of vigilance of the public. You can see how minimal vigilance and a cleaner although very small Police element have been able to achieve.
In Masaka, the Kiddawalime gang , which had killed 5 people on New Year’s day 2018, was wiped out by one of the potential victims, Nakyambadde, a nurse, having the presence of mind to ring a crime preventer who then rang the Police which responded promptly.
The result, Kiddawalime was killed on the spot. Hassan Galiwango escaped but the vigilance of the public had already identified the identity of these people. The Police published the picture of Galiwango in the papers and on TV. Galiwango had made himself a herdsboy (omulaalo w’ente) deep in Ntungamo (Nyabihoko) . A Mwanainchi watching TV noticed the resemblance between the new herdsboy in the village and the picture on the TV. That is how the last of the Kiddawalime gang was re-arrested.
Remember, this group had all been arrested but had escaped from a court-room because of lousy prison guards and meaningless court rules that provided that somebody in the court should not have handcuffs on!! Amazing!! Anyway, the vigilance of the Wanainchi and a serious local Police force wiped out the Kiddawalime gang.
In the case of Naluvule, Wakiso, a vigilant neighbour rang the Police in Wakiso on hearing the alarm of my daughters, the Bakaris, as their mother was being attacked. The Police nearby responded promptly. The result, one of the attackers killed, the others injured and the identity of the group quickly established.
Nevertheless, I criticized the Police for not implementing my directives previously. Let all the Police stations have cost free (toll-free) phones that are known to the public. When that is done everywhere, people being attacked, in addition to the “nduuru” to summon neighbours, somebody should ring that local police number promptly.
Having removed some of the kawukumi (the bean weevils) from the Police, it is becoming more efficient. The criminals will not escape. In the case of Rwego, a lot of time was lost by the wife just making alarm only, if what I was told is correct. There was a house girl in the home. If only she had rang the nearby police, the story would have been different.
Nevertheless, the vigilance of the public discovered the suspected criminal that had been bitten by the dog and part of the gang have been arrested. Even in the other cases that could be political or corruption related, vigilance would have helped. In the case of Abiriga, these killers came before, bought fruit juice and even bought air- time. At that time Ugandans were relaxed and not bothering about strangers. This is because of many years of peace – walking at all hours of the night, trans-night dances, overnight prayers etc. Now that some people want to take advantage of that freedom, be vigilant. We have camera equipped phones. Take photographs of suspicious people. Quickly ring the Police using those phones in case of need.
All this is in areas where our new systems have not become operational. Where the cameras are operational already, identification of criminals, even when they are still climbing over fences of the potential victims, is instantaneous. This is not to talk of the electronic number plates or engine markers. Therefore, Countrymen and Women, Bazukulu, these shallow schemes of criminals, the corrupt Police officers and primitive fascists will be defeated by vigilance, a corruption-free and more responsive Police force and technology.
An LC3 Chairperson was killed in Mitooma District (part of the former Bushenyi District). This, again, looks simple enough because it seems, some people lured him away from home. Who were these ? There could lie the answer.
