UGANDA: KARAMOJA INSECURITY - BUSINESS AS USUAL OR POLITICS AT PLAY?

  

By CHANGE OF GUARDS

Immediately after the January 14 polls, a wave of insecurity hit Karamoja sub-region.  It is characterised by killings using guns by unidentified people who target individuals at night.  In Napak alone, 19 people have been shot deaD since that time.  Some sources claim that the assailants are donned in camouflage attires similar to the ones used by security forces.  The Minister in charge of Karamoja, Mr. Kizige, told NBS Television that he suspects the killings could be politically motivated by those who lost in the recent Elections.  The Honorable Minister's assertion suggests that there is a section of aggrieved people in Karamoja whose victory was robbed.  The elders of Napak district have petitioned Museveni over the surge in insecurity with suggestions that the local defence forces (LDUs) be disbanded since they are the ones aiding the insecurity.   

During the recent election campaigns, Karamoja region actively embraced the opposition and, in particular, Bobi Wine and his NUP.  Before Bobi Wine switched to politics,  he had visited Karamoja region in March 2016 for the first time.  He had been invited by a local water and sanitation project by Viva Con Agua to create awareness during the World Water day.  While in Karamoja, he met local artistes, held workshops and visited schools where he addressed students.  On D-Day, he held a grand concert at the Moroto Boma grounds where the entry fee was only Shillings 500 for adults and 200 for children.  He donated all the proceeds of the concert towards the improvement of the said water and sanitation project in Karamoja. 

The electoral law requires an aspiring presidential candidate to raise 9,600 signatures nationally from at least three quarters of the districts.  During the recent presidential nomination, all the nine districts of Karamoja region raised 7,000 signatures in support of Bobi Wine's presidential candidature.  This development sent the Museveni Museveni regime panicking to the extent of threatening NUP aspirants for the different elective positions in Karamoja to pull out.  During the campaigns, Bobi Wine was accorded special reception in Karamoja before his extremely big crowds faced the wrath of the security forces.  In his campaign message, he blamed the Museveni regime for deliberately keeping Karamoja in poverty despite its vast mineral resources.  He went ahead to assert that Museveni's appointment of his wife as the Minister for Karamoja affairs was pursuant to this impoverishment scheme.  He asserted that Museveni had disarmed the Karamajong without measures in place to counter the attacks from the Turkana.  Presidential candidate Gen. Tumukunde promised to involve the Karamajong in efforts to counter the raids from the armed Pokot from Kenya.  

The issue of insecurity in Karamoja due to cattle rustling is a traditional historical factor.  Around 2002, Museveni launched a brutal disarmament scheme that was characterised by gross human rights abuses by security forces.  Eight years later, around early 2020 Museveni's chest stamping for having successfully disarmed the Karamojong suffered a set back when insecurity resurfaced and the army responded with the usual brutality.  In June 2020, this website ran an exclusive write-up over the same;

Around September 2020, there was a violent jail break at Moroto Prison when 224 inmates broke into the armoury and acquired 14 automatic guns before they overpowered the guards and fled. The majority of the escapees were Karamajong who had been incarcerated by the army on accusations of illegal possession of arms. Only less than 25 of these escapees were either captured or executed.  Interestingly, the situation improved during the electioneering period thus the assertion by Minister for Karamoja Affairs that the current killings could be politically motivated.  No wonder, despite the overwhelming support by the people of Karamoja to Bobi Wine and NUP, Museveni and his NRM overwhelmingly swept Karamoja.  Obviously, driven by the urge to disprove the opposition, his usual rigging machinery must have had a free day in the remote Karamoja region.  Could it be Karamoja's turn for a Kasese like  post 2016 election Kirumira Mutima!!!  

INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM