UGANDA: Of Museveni's hired eye witnesses and suspects to crime

Loy Atworo on the extreme right is a witness Uganda Police paraded as having been knocked in an accident by Ziggy Wine (RIP)

OF MUSEVENI'S HIRED EYE WITNESSES AND SUSPECTS TO CRIME

CHANGE OF GUARDS - As Museveni's 33 years old military dictatorship struggles to hold onto power, it is also grappling with a credibility crisis with regard to protection of life and property. The escalation of violent crime is in resonanct with the regime's designs of keeping the population in perpetual fear. However, the development is proving to be counter productive. The regime is trying to eat its cake and have it.

In response to mounting pressure from citizens, the regime has repeatedly come up with various diversionary security measures. Despite such measures being costly in terms of financial, logistical and human resources, the situation has persistently escalated. This is because this insecurity is in one way or the other either directly or indirectly linked to the security agencies.

This persistent insecurity has consequently made citizens to lose hope in the capacity of the regime to provide security of life and property. In desperate efforts to regain credibility, the regime has been on rampage kidnapping, arresting, torturing and detention without trial of innocent citizens. In this regard, different security agencies are competing over catching Museveni's approval and increased funding. Consequently, due to the absence of any form of evidence, they fear risking a full trial of such so-called suspects hence detention without trial.

Where courts of law have legally released such victims due to either lack of evidence or constitutional bail, regime security agents have rearrested them and continued to detain them without trial, sometimes in ungazzetted places. On a sad note, the phenomenon of the regime is parading fake suspects and witnesses to crime with the aim of hoodwinking gullible citizens. Such hired witnesses and suspects are used to create a false credibility posture. It is very common for the regime to chest stamp over the so-called 'breakthrough' during such parades but only for the situation to escalate.

Owing to internal power struggles and competition over funding, in some instances hired witnesses and suspects paraded by one agency are publicly rubbished by another as fake.

Cry the beloved country.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM