On 31st December 2024, the President of Uganda addressed the nation as it has been a tradition to give an end of year message. He talked about a number of things, but what caught the attention of the media was the issue of banning Police bond. The President said that he may not stop court bails because the courts are independent, but he has authority over police and he directed police to stop giving police bonds to people suspected to have stolen cattle. This has since then sparked debate with the media exaggerating it and the opposition misinterpreting it for their own benefits to get public attention like they’ve always done. The President has always been the content creator of the opposition and the media, and each time he make a statement they take advantage of it to show that they’re relevant to the eyes of the Public, unfortunately through misinterpreting his messages and exaggeration.
The NRM government has a historical mission of fighting poverty, and we’ve taken serious and visible steps in this war. The government has put several programs intended to create wealth for Ugandans. But the most important one, which has helped Uganda, is keeping the country peace. Once there’s peace in the country, almost everything is possible, and that’s why peace is the number one priority of the NRM government. However, some people have taken advantage of the democracy and human rights to interfere with the governments efforts of eradicating poverty. For instance, the issue of police bond exists in the constitution, and I think it was put as a way of protecting human rights. Unfortunately, these days, the police are abusing it, hence creating habitual criminals in society. There are idle youth in the community whose job is to smoke weed and later go to people’s gardens to harvest where they didn’t plant. They’ve made agriculture a nightmare in some parts of the country. Some of them are caught while others are not caught. If we don’t a forge a solution to this problem, obviously, it will be a huge stumbling block to our efforts of eradicating poverty.
The cattle thieves have created connections with some police officers, especially in the CID department. They steal cattle, and within a few hours, they’re given bond to go back home, and the process continues. They make cattle farming a difficult job to do. The locals even get tired of reporting them to police because they know that once they get to police they will be given bond. Those cattle thieves have turned themselves into habitual criminals, and they continue to get the sympathy of police bond and court bail. In places where locals are vigilant, most of those criminals have lost their lives, once they’re caught locals beat them up and kill them because the population know that once they reach police they will be given bond and begin from where they stopped. So, you realize that giving bond itself encourages crime, and people decide to act that away as a way of assisting themselves.
The President’s views on the bond shouldn’t be misunderstood. He was categorically clear on giving police bond, he didn’t say that the police bond was banned in Uganda like most of the media houses and the opposition are putting it. He specified on which people who shouldn’t be given bond and those are suspects of animal theft. This is because they’re sabotaging the efforts of wealth creation and they should be treated as terrorists, for as long as there’s evidence that someone was caught with a stolen cattle why should you set them free? For instance, in Sheema District, during this festive season, we received reports of eleven cows that were stolen. These cows were brought at the abtoir for slaughter without documents from authorities. We insisted and stopped the slaughter, and later, their owners were identified and located. If we had allowed those cows to be slaughtered, the farmers were going to lose millions of money, and that wouldn’t be helping them but rather making them hate farming.
The cattle thieves who are sabotaging the NRM’s historical mission of wealth creation shouldn’t be treated with mercy. They’re more dangerous than terrorists. Same people who are opposing the President’s directive on granting them police bond will be the same people to criticize the president and government when poverty levels increase. That’s the confusion we are in. There’s no country in the world that will just watch as criminals make it difficult for people to engage in economic activities that will bring wealth for them and also improve the economic standards of the country. If the police bond is being abused and criminals take advantage of it to continue stealing, it’s is very wise to have it banned on that particular offense. However, the people should be encouraged to cooperate with police when these criminals are arrested by giving statements and appearing in court to give evidence so that they’re charged and acted upon in accordance with the law.
The writer is a deputy RDC Sheema District.
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