{UAH} Masked goons unmasking Uganda’s criminalised state-we still have sycophants who seeothing wrong with this
|
10:26 PM |
No comments |
Masked goons unmasking Uganda's criminalised state
Written by MOSES KHISA
They had all the freedom to beat, pepper-spray, and violently assault those seen to be followers of a man many believe is the rightful president of Uganda.
In a rather disingenuous public posturing, the leadership of the Uganda Police Force, specifically the Kampala Metropolitan commander Abbas Byakagaba, addressed the press on Wednesday, denouncing the gang's criminal acts.
He stated that the force disassociates itself from the hoodlums, who meted out their violence freely and in the company of fully-uniformed police officers, including the Kampala Metropolitan South commander. Strange!
Anyone who has closely followed the conduct of the most influential coterie currently at the help of our country would not be surprised by the use of criminal behaviour in policing operations.
The inspector general of police (IGP), an overzealous and partisan servant of the ruler, has a fairly-elaborate track record of using dubious methods and outright illegal tactics in the name of maintaining order and enforcing the law.
With huge financial resources availed to him to secure his master, Kale Kayihura worked up the recruitment of a militia ostensibly to serve as crime preventers. Far from preventing crime, a most absurd concept, to be sure, the militia was propped up to facilitate stealing of the February 2016 elections.
The project of 'crime preventers' was hailed by none other than Andrew Mwenda as Kayihura's smart idea to help Museveni rig elections. But an equally important objective was to tackle the possible post-rigging crisis, which is precisely part of what we are seeing in form of masked men clobbering people on the streets.
What the masked mercenaries are doing, however, is to unmask the pretensions of the police leadership and, indeed, strip bare the fascist-like and criminalised conduct of those in power.
I have written in this column about the two fundamental traits embedded in the psyche of Uganda's current rulers: impunity and arrogance. The counterpart to this is the proclivity for exercising raw power and the display of militarism. The use of masked men to unleash violence is only but a small manifestation of the ways of a regime that prides in militarism while hiding under the façade of democratic government.
In the 21 century, why would a head of state strap a rifle across his chest and trek through a part of the country that has had violent clashes between security and police personnel, on the one hand, and local people armed with rudimentary weapons?
Here is a president, supposedly retired from the military and is allegedly a civilian, validly elected president but who has to show that his rule is built on the display of military prowess.
This is the same mindset of his loyal servants, especially the head of the police, an institution that should have no business with national security and defence. Its primary constitutional mandate is policing – keeping law and order.
Masked men who beat up people on Tuesday in police presence Yet it appears that militarising the police alone is not enough to keep up with the pace of hanging onto power in the face of mounting civil discontent and waning popular will. Thus, the resort to enacting criminal methods, a tactic that falls within a broader evolving trajectory of a criminalised state.
There is criminality in the utter abdication of responsibility that has seen the decay and disintegration of basic social facilities like the healthcare sector. The theft and shoddiness in the road sector, energy sector – that is now embroiled in a heartbreaking fraud in the construction of Karuma and Isimba dams – the rot in education, and one can go on and on, which all add up to a government that is running a mafia-like state.
How are citizens supposed to respond to this dastardly desecration of our country? The promise of democratic empowerment has turned out no more than an illusion in the face of militarism and fraudulent conduct by those in power.
In the interim, it appears that the citizens are stuck and stranded. They are helpless and hapless. They are disillusioned and disengaged. But the fact is that these sorts of criminal systems tend to have a rather short lifespan. They are hardly sustainable. The very criminal tactics return to haunt their architects. For the most part, it's just a matter of time.
On a small, personal note, I successfully defended my PhD thesis and gained admission to the 'club'. It's a culmination of years in the academic trenches, torturous and quite onerous. One of The Observer readers, Kigongo Ssentongo, has repeatedly chided me for being a perpetual PhD candidate. It was his way of getting back at me for my critical views on the Museveni establishment.
In any event, Ndugu Kigongo can now leave the rather frivolous issue of my education and debate the substance of my opinions. In the same vein, I will implore my editor that I maintain the name Moses Khisa, excluding the rather presumptuous title of Dr.
The author teaches political science at Northwestern University/Evanston, Chicago-USA.
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment