SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT OF UGANDA INVOLVE ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE EMERGING DOMESTIC TERRORISM ? By Kizito Simon Njaye.
Of late the whole country and the world at large was awash with the saddening and ugly news that appeared in different mass media about the emerging trends of domestic terrorism and home-made bomb blasts that have left?dozens of innocent Ugandan?Citizens dead and some of them sustaining serious irreparably injuries,trauma and bodily disfigurement.
According to the Uganda Police Force website, the recent twin Improvised Explosive Device(IED) bombs that were detonated within the Central Business district of Kampala this week?at Central Police Station of Kampala and another along the Parliamentary Avenue allegedly by extremist radical groups working with the Islamic State(IS) and the defeated Allied Democratic Force(ADF) whose leader was apprehended at the borders of Uganda and Tanzania in 2015 and handed over to the Uganda government and currently in jail?awaiting trial in the International Court for charges such as?murder?and?crimes against humanity. This ?recent blasts according to the information from the Uganda Police left 6 persons dead, about 34 persons sustained bodily injuries with 5 of these said to be in critical condition, although the death toll is likely to rise from those admitted in hospitals.
The other bomb blasts were early reported about a fortnight ago at a road side happening place located at Komamboga on Gayaza road,Kawempe Division within the vicinity of the capital Kampala about?16 kilometres from the City centre,here one person is said to have died and another person critically injured.The other blast is said to have detonated on a Kampala bound Swift Safaris bus on Kampala-Masaka highway travelling from the Central district of Kampala to the western region of Uganda,where one person is said to have died on the spot,Meanwhile all these bomb blasts and terrorist acts are said to be linked to radical extremist groups that is ?the Allied Democratic Forces(ADF) and the Islamist State(IS) currently said to be operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) and formerly in Uganda.
As peace loving and law abiding Citizen of Uganda I wish to join other Wanainchi by expressing ourselves in one voice together to condemn in the strongest terms these inhuman and barbaric acts of extremist and radical groups the likes of ADF,IS groups ?to kill innocent Citizens of Uganda by using terrorist activities and the detonation??of rudimentary ?homemade IED bombs.
The Bible God’s Holy Book clearly stipulates that “Thou shall not ?commit murder”. This is the 5th of the 10 Commandments that were handed to Prophet Moses ?in the???Bible and as one the ancient Mosaic laws that is still relevant up to this day and is applicable in our daily lives,(read ?Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17).
In the Islamic faith there is saying that states that “Whosover kills a person,it should be as if that person has killed all mankind”.
This implies that since God created all mankind in his image(read the Bible in Genesis 1:27),there is no religion,faith or any doctrine that abets and encourages any person to knowingly or unknowingly take the lives of ?other persons without any reason or cause whatever.
As we await for the State of the Nation address from?His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri kaguta Museveni tomorrow Saturday 20th/11/2021,I would like to recap and share with the readers some salient points that our Excellency emphasized during the last State of the Nation address. He said within the security forces especially the Uganda police there was laxity within the forces while executing their duties;then he also added on that the Uganda security forces especially the Uganda police was infiltrated by some few criminal elements or “kawukumi” and he also reminded all Ugandns that the country was well prepared in terms of technology to handle any type criminal elements/enemies ?including terrorists as ?advanced security measures in place put by the government to avert,detect,apprehend and punish the suspects or criminals.
Some of the measures he said was the installation of Closed Circuit Televisions(CCTVs) in strategic locations country wide,the professionalization of the national security agencies and personnel,acquisition of modern military ware and functioning intelligence gathering systems,the national registration of all citizens by issuance of national identity cards to all nationals.
The joint security team of Uganda(Police.Army,ISO and prisons) I confident will defeat these emerging domestic terrorists/enemies- the likes of the ADF and IS who I think have no proper political agendas for Uganda as a country but to cause panic within the general populations,inflict pain,cause deaths and??gross bodily injuries to innocent civilians,they are probably being funded and misled by our foreign “enemies” who do not want to see us living in peace and harmony in Uganda.
I urge the government of Uganda to involve all stakeholders in the fight against this emerging trends of domestic terrorists who are said to be using rudimentary tools(IEDs) to cause mayhem and a lot suffering,deaths,pain and gross injuries to the innocent wanainchi.The??strategies would include but not limited to the following:
·????????Sensitize and educate the public about their personal security, how to report a suspicious persons or incidents to the relevant authorities without delays; the public should exercise high levels of alertness and vigilance within their communities; The LC I system can be facilitated to carry out these roles within the communities country wide,
·????????Capacitate, train, facilitate and equip all state security agencies with adequate equipment, tools, and cater for their welfare factors to motivate them to perform their duties better,
Private security organizations existing in Uganda can be also capacitated, have their personnel?·?trained, equipped and facilitated by the government to play supplementary roles in assisting the State security agencies in the fight against these emerging domestic terrorism and the deterioration in the national security situation.
·?????????The government should recruit more security personnel to cater for the existing manpower gaps and shortages and also re-train the existing security personnel in counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering, and any other relevant security related courses/training/techniques to make them be well prepared and ready to handle any emergent security threats in the country of any nature or magnitude.
·????????The government should also initiate and encourage?public dialogues with all dissenting political/rebel groups as a means of reaching consensuses, or solving issues before they go out of hands. Reconciliatory approach can also be applied to mend fences and as a mitigatory measure to avert more mess in the future .
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“Together let’s fight domestic terrorism and completely uproot it from Uganda”
KIZITO SIMON NJAYE
Research Associate
AFRICAN RESEARCH CONSULT UGANDA-CHAPHTER
Email [email protected]
Telephone +256782672632/+256 758844318
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