By Stephen Lwetutte
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM/NEWSDAY:From whichever angle you view the consequences of corruption, regardless of whether they are obvious or unintended, every single person is adversely affected. While the common people disproportionately bear the brunt, the beneficiaries and the wealthy are never spared. Defying the curfew laws with impunity would be the last reason for the well-connected to expect to get into jeopardy, but they were the majority at Komamboga’s Digida Pork Joint, the target of a terrorist attack, at a time when no one should have been at the venue had the curfew regulations not been defied.
Reports of an explosion started coming in late in the night, past curfew hours, on Saturday 23 October 2021 at venue in Komamboga, suburb located just a few minutes’ drive from Kampala City Centre. It is said to be well appointed and usually filled to capacity, with extra security apparently thrown in for good measure, lest any brave law enforcement agent dares challenge the curfew contravention.
This Saturday the venue is said to have been particularly crowded, and it is only by sheer luck that the number of victims was not higher than the reported one fatality and a few injured. Within a blink of an eye, that initial sense of security it would appear had given way to pandemonium, screams, panic and frantic efforts to leave the venue without knowing the scale, scope and gravity of danger lurking within and outside the venue.
As no wider formal security arrangements would have been in place due to the curfew to police and manage such an eventuality, everyone at the venue was exposed to a higher level of risk than would have been the case. Moreover, the culprits were able to make a get away with little or no possibility of being intercepted as many people defying curfew regulations are usually again well-connected so-called “untouchables “ or off-duty members of the security personnel (they are a law unto themselves). The multiplicity of security agencies also does nothing to assist the situation.
It is hard to see how, in an organised, law-abiding and efficient society how this atrocity would have happened – there wouldn’t have been anyone at that venue in the first place. In a reactive measure, a couple of senior officers are reported to have been arrest – l beg to differ, because l think it is a cop-out. The buck should end right back fairly and squarely with the line cabinet Minister for the failure to implement the curfew regulations that have endangered lives and national security. I understand that the international terrorist organisation Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
When COVID-19 struck last year and the country descended into a series of total lockdowns, many senior and wealthy personalities were unable to make their regular and routine trips abroad for treatment. Since all the resources for setting up modern medical facilities in Uganda had dissipated through corruption, these people’s lives were suddenly threatened and placed at heightened risk without treatment abroad. The chickens had suddenly come back home to roost. I understand that a few actually succumbed. Had alternative facilities been available in Uganda, that situation would not have arisen.
Lawlessness breeds corruption which exposes absolutely everyone to greater risks in every which way you look at the situation, if the wo examples above are anything to go by. Unfortunately, President Museveni has neither the will nor the capacity to reign in on lawlessness, corruption and impunity, not after he has completely failed to do so for 36 years. The country cannot, therefore, hold its breath out while he is still in charge.
This country needs a completely new start. Corruption is a scourge for everyone poor or wealthy, that must be decisively fought and defeated, but not before defeating lawlessness. The Late President Magufuli demonstrated what and how it can be done in less than 5 years, not 35 years and counting. He catapulted neighbouring Tanzania to the middle income status economy well ahead of schedule. In Uganda, it remains a pipe dream.
The writer is a Multilingual Human Rights Practitioner, formerly at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London for over 20 years and now Legal and Human Rights Consultant
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