Michael J. Ssali: Is today’s kidnap wave a sign of a terrorist attack on Uganda?

It was good to learn this Saturday morning that some time next week different national security organs will be discussing how to handle the new wave of kidnaps and murders.

However, if I may contribute to the debate, I believe the current insecurity is the work of a new terrorist group that is yet to tell us its name. The little bit I have so far read about terrorists has taught me that terrorists are a desperate category of human beings.

They will do anything to cause terror — to kill or maim people — hoping to raise awareness about their grievances which are often political. They are also suicidal cases and will not hesitate to kill themselves in the process of causing death and mayhem to others.

The trend has so far been planting or throwing bombs and shooting with automatic guns. Hence the presence of metal detectors in public places. But they can hijack planes. They can also put dangerous chemicals in public water system to kill off entire towns.

They may donate forbidden drugs like marijuana to increase crime so that people become ungovernable. The idea is to cause regime change. Now in the case of Uganda they could have resorted to using pangas to kill people — soft targets like women and children.

So that everybody gets fed up with the regime’s failure to provide security and perhaps rise up in protest. I am waiting for other opinions about this new problem. We could be fighting ALsabaab in Somalia when we should be defending ourselves against another type of terrorists.