For many years, gunmen have been turning up and shooting whoever they want in Kampala and ride their motorcycles into the city’s thin air. We then sit down on social media and debate. The type of gun used, who may have sent them, how many they were and all stuff that are associated with murders. A week or two, we return to our normal routines until another shooting.
Sometimes, police and other security agencies arrest some people and send them to court. Years later, there is no evidence to convict them and are let free. The shooting cycle continues like on Sunday when businessman and Ndiga clan leader Daniel Bbossa was shot down in Lungujja as he returned to his home. It was still during the day with the February sun not even about to set.
This time though it was different. Police says somebody who saw them shooting Mzee Bbossa bravery knocked their boda boda as they sped away from the crime scene leading to the community lynching one. Police showed up moments before the second one was killed by an irate community. In a video circulating online, the community begged the police to hand over one of the killers and they kill him as well. It showed the trust or lack of it the people have in their police force.
Unlike in all the senseless murders that have become so common in Kampala, this time, the police can’t accuse an obscure force. The positive identity of the killers should give them some useful clues and help them answer some questions. Who sent them to kill? Why did they kill? How many had they killed? Why are they so daring to kill in broad daylight without any fear? Are the killers part of a gang or these were acting alone? Whose gun did they use? Who supplies this gun with rounds of ammunition? Does this give the country an opportunity to solve all the other murders? Will the community’s involvement to arrest and kill deter such other murderers?
There, of course, will be more questions than answers and for the bereaved families, their hearts will never heal regardless of what they may say in public. But the arrest and lynching of the killers by the Lungujja community could give us some hope. That the community will not just watch as people are being murdered in broad daylight and most importantly that the police’s investigation into the murder is now well cut out. If they can’t use the identity of the killers to solve this murder, nothing else will.
As a country we should know that one of the major impediments to economic growth is insecurity. Unresolved murders create fear among citizens where everyone lives on tenterhooks wondering whether they will ever see their loved ones again. Instead of working hard to solve the challenges that affect us, a worried population resorts to activities that only ensure survival. They don’t take time to think long term because they are not sure whether they will see another day. They don’t know if their children will live long enough to enjoy the benefits. So they concentrate on little things that don’t create significant impact.
We love to talk about foreign direct investment and exports nowadays. Nobody will want to invest in a country where every few months prominent people are killed in cold blood and the killers and their funders are never arrested and brought to book. They know that gangs will descend on them, kill them and they will be on the streets next day like nothing happened.
Instead of investing in such a country, they would rather invest in markets where they are sure their investments and lives are guaranteed or there is an effort to protect them. This is a simple thing that the current government should know. Insecurity curtailed the country’s development and it is upon that background that they decided to go and fight. The same murders can’t be happening nearly 40 years later.
Investments must be made in security to create a sense of invincibility where every criminal including those embedded in the country’s security network know that the chances of being arrested and successfully prosecuted are high. If they know that they can be sent to remand for a few months and then released for lack of evidence, they will continue to kill with reckless abandon. If they know that they can bribe the police and judicial system, murders will happen as they do today.
If there is any positive in Lwomwa (Ndiga Clan leader) Daniel Bbossa’s murder is that his killers didn’t this time just disappear in the small paths of Lungujja. The community were brave enough to apprehend them. It is the same bravery now the police and other security agencies must exhibit and get our country back on track.
The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com
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