In the aftermath of the gruesome murder of former AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi, President Yoweri Museveni promised that there would be mass recruitment for and reestablishment of paramilitary outfit commonly known as Local Defence Units to help booster security in and around Kampala an area that had at the time been rocked with violent crimes and kidnaps.
This year true to his word, the President passed out over 6000 LDUs at Kaweweta military school. The LDUs were then surmoned by military General Headquarters for deployment.
Last week ahead of the hearing of the case for MP Robert Kyagulanyi that was anticipated to be held at Buganda road Court, a massive deployment of LDUs was witnessed in the area sparking outrage on social media. Commentators were quick to come out and question why such a massive deployment of the LDUs had been carried out.
This deployment followed two days of riots in the city especially in the downtown area of Kiseka market. According to Police, the LDUs were meant to assist in quelling riots that had been planned by Kyagulanyis supporters. A number of arrests were later made in and around Kampala by the LDUs.
However typical with Ugandan media houses, the cover stories of the work done by the LDUs focused on angles that unfairly portrayed brutality in a synchronized attempt to discredit the contribution made by LDUs in ensuring public order.
Case study of the USA.
A joint statement of the US and EU embassy of the riots also missed the mark and typical of them, focused on the handling of the vandals arrested over the riots.
In the USA, demonstrations are quelled using the harshest means possible especially if they involve racial minorities.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County in April and May of 1992.
Unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for usage of excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King, which had been videotaped and widely viewed in TV broadcasts.
With local police overwhelmed in controlling the situation, Governor of California Pete Wilson sent in the California Army National Guard, and President George H. W. Bush deployed the 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Division.
Consequently, order and peace were restored throughout L.A. County, but 63 people were killed, 2,383 people were injured, with more than 12,000 arrests. LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates, who had already announced his resignation by the time of the riots, was attributed with much of the blame.
Similar practices have been witnessed even in Europe and most recently in France during the Yellow vest Protests. In Belgium during demonstrations at EU headquarters, military is often deployed to quell protestors.
Take Always.
The high and mighty United States of America is known to deploy infantry forces to quell demonstrations yet in Uganda we criticize the use of specialized lightly armed paramilitary to do the same.
The level of hypocrisy is sickening, but typical of our arm chair critics who watch the action on Television (such as NBS TV who had been warned against live broadcasting of riots as it encourages sensationalism and is used by rioters to mobilise for support) and rush to comment and spit fire on social media.
We need to respect our structures. We need to stop reactionary behaviour. The Local defence Units among other initiatives such as Sim card registration and deployment of CCTV cameras is part of an elaborate effort to restore security in the city and surrounding areas. Only criminals or those with criminal intentions can fail to see the justifications for these efforts.
Civil unrest and of political tsunamis.
Opposition politicians such as Kizza Besigye and Bobi Wine have been heard on several occasions saying that they intend to make Uganda ungovernable through civil unrest. This is pitiful and shows why they have been so passionate in their efforts to discredit efforts at ensuring peace.
In the aftermath of riots in Sudan that led to the overthrow of President Omar El Bashir, Ugandan activists were heard saying that it was time that Uganda experienced its own Arab spring, taking little effort to show to their supporters how miserably such movements have performed with stable states turning into unmanageable wastelands such as Libya, Syria and now Sudan.
The public order management act was passed and has been at work for over two years, parliamentarians have recently attempted to have the law rescinded to favor their illegal political mobilisation attempts.
However the government through the leader of government business in Parliament should resist this onslaught because the struggle to maintain order continues and cannot be left at the mercy of political vultures and mercenaries of foreign interests.
