Political murders happen all over the word, including Uganda, and in most cases they are commissioned by a few top people in the government. Compared to Uganda, Kenya has a more stable military institution such that even the murders of high-profile politicians like Tom Mboya in 1969 and J. M. Kariuki in 1975 did not cause any political instability.

On the other hand, in Uganda just losing a UPDF General has got a lot of tongues wagging. It could even be worse for the country if a person like Salim Saleh or the President himself was assassinated as it would certainly destabilise the country because of the way the UPDF is set up.

There are several Ugandans who wish to agree with Timothy Kalyegira’s version of Kazini’s death on the Uganda Record website more than those who look at it as a product of a simple domestic quarrel, basically because Ugandans have lost trust in the regime in power. That’s why we need an independent commission of inquiry into both Brian (Prof. Gilbert Bukenya’s son) and Kazini’s deaths. 

The government should facilitate investigations of murders of high-profile people and reports from these inquiries should be made public. This would build public trust in the government. There is no point for the President to order a probe into Brian and Kazini’s deaths and the public never gets to know anything that comes out of it.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba,
United Kingdom.


Vices elsewhere are principles in Uganda

I am bewildered at the level of ‘mob justice’ practised across the Ugandan society and especially by the media. Take an example of the recent tragic death of Maj. Gen. James Kazini. This has unleashed a wave of mob justice against the character of the General, his family, his alleged killer and other people in the establishment.

Unfortunately, the mob justice is being executed by the media through peddling speculation and rumour. The society has become so perverted with deeply rooted preferences for innuendos and rumours that the objective truth sounds like scientific discoveries during the times of Galileo Galilee and the Catholic Church!
Also, the ineptitude of the authorities in responding effectively and efficiently to emergency situations helps fan the flames of rumour.

Investigators are supposed to adhere to principles of confidentiality and are expected to act with humility, precision and open mindedness in the course of conducting their investigations. These basic traits of professionalism seem to elude everyone within the investigative machinery.

The principles of objective journalism have also not been spared this shortcoming. Literally everyone, from the peasant to the elite, has already made judgement that Draru, the lady who allegedly killed the General, is guilty!

In essence, there has been an inversion paradigm of some sort in Uganda; truth taken over by untruth; justice taken over by injustice; democracy by brutality, and so on. In other words, the vices of modern societies elsewhere are the governing principles within Uganda society.
It is pitiable.

Morris Komakech,
Toronto-Canada


Reward buyers of newer machines

Japan, Dubai and the West are using Uganda as a dumping ground for their toxin emitting vehicles, computers and other gadgets. Since Uganda is an avid consumer of used things (mivumba), Uganda Revenue Authority is all smiles as it collects billions from these rotten vehicles. The proposed “pre-shipment inspection” will not work.

Who will thoroughly inspect the hundreds of vehicles coming into Uganda every week? This inspection will not only mean another charge on the final buyer but also another ugly window of corruption. I would rather we just put a limit on the year of manufacture and begin from there. In the United States, government encourages people to buy new, energy-efficient home appliances. You take your old refrigerator to government, which issues you with a receipt for it.

You take this receipt to the shop and present it as you buy a new refrigerator. Immediately your new appliance will cost you at least $100 less on top of it being environmentally friendlier! So government gives you money back for surrendering an old machine for a better one. Who wouldn’t like such a deal?  We can get rid of the many dangerous, smoky vehicles by reducing taxes for newer vehicles even without hiking taxes on junk. As a result, we will use less fuel, have a cleaner environment and probably have fewer accidents.

Henry F. Mulindwa,
USA.

Parliamentarians recently cracked a sick joke by asking the Police to investigate Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa. Can you imagine Gen. Kale Kayihura investigating his buddy Kutesa? What happened to the case of alleged homosexuality against a pastor who once financed a Police station’s renovation?
There is absolutely nothing that the so-called August House can do.

The opposition is blatantly abetting a mob Parliament that only has the NRM (not Uganda) at heart; please get out! Amama Mbabazi, the Secretary General of NRM, showed them what to do recently; he urged all NRM members to disengage from opposition run executives. Resign en masse; your voters will understand.

Paget Kintu,
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I urge media to respect the dead

Allow me to express my disappointment at the way some media houses have made it a tradition to make money out of people’s problems. There’s a media house, which has made it its business to write about the dead. They write all sorts of things about this departed person who cannot write back and at the end of the day the pain is inflicted on his/her family members. Imagine children of the deceased reading headlines like: ‘He died in Kandahar’; ‘He had the longest whopper in the country’; ‘He had shafted 500 women’!

Imagine these kids who go to school daily; how do you expect other kids to respect these poor souls? One thing is for sure, one day the writers of these ‘good’ articles will go and the same pain may be inflicted on their families too. Why should we earn at the expense of others?  I would like to urge our good writers and editors to regain their conscience and respect our customs for the good of this nation.

Moses Kaketo,
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