KAMPALA – The Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has said the government’s methods of fighting crime are not effective amid the continued kidnaps and murders, with the latest being that of social worker Maria Nagirinya and her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa.
According to the FDC, in the face of rampant criminality in form of murders and kidnaps, President Museveni promised that CCTV cameras would sort out the issue and that he would rid the security agencies of kawukuumi [weevils] but this has not been the case.
“On June 19, 2018, Mr. Museveni in his address to Parliament on “The State of Security,” said: ‘When I intervened in the murders in Entebbe and Masaka, I just sat with the people and straight away you could see the clues. Negligence and collusion with security forces has been part of the problem’. Now what the country needs to know is how far the President has gone with removing bad elements from the security forces,” Mr John Kikonyogo, the FDC deputy spokesman, told journalists at the FDC headquarters in Kampala on Monday.
“In the same way, Mr. Museveni on 19th June 2018 said that the cameras to be installed will have thermo sensors that detect criminals during the dark, but recently the Director CID while at Busega where Nagilinya and her driver were abducted, she said that the darkness was to blame for not detecting the criminals who murdered these people. The question remains whether we bought the right cameras or if they are of any use,” he added.
“We would like to pass our condolences to the families of the late Maria Nagirinya and her driver for losing such young people,” he said.
The bodies of Nagirinya and her driver, Kitayimbwa, were discovered on Friday near a swamp at Nakitutuli along the Mukono-Kayunga road in Nama Sub County. The bodies were found covered with dry grass and had cuts on the head.
Speaking during the burial of Nagirinya at Kibuye in Makindye Division on Sunday, Dr Ben Mukwaya, a family member, who is also the director of Nsambya General Hospital, said Uganda does not deserve such a police force.
“We approached them [security] as soon as our girl was abducted only for them to turn up at 6.30pm the following day,” Dr Mukwaya said.
“I saw a level of detachment, incompetence, lack of empathy in handling this issue. It was us who headed the investigations at our own command centre as police sat back. What we have witnessed does not deserve this nation. Civilised nations are determined by the level of service delivery,” he added.
