In Uganda, the wise are doing their own policing

What you need to know:

  • There were no students to wiseacre or crowds of looters as is the wont neither were there helpless women, drunk men and children to first take care of and interfere with the firemen’s time to shine. 

Accidents are bound to happen and are unavoidable. In our lifetime, we only work to mitigate the impact of the disaster that will be, when accidents happen.

So in that sense, accidents are really not a problem to be afraid of because they are a fact of life. It is the way in which we prepare for the day they occur that is the problem or the solution.

That is why we take out insurance policies, install burglar-proofing, backup our information, and close our doors. We also ensure that we have fully functional water hydrants in the vicinity, just in case. At the weekend, one of the most important addresses in this country, the Makerere University Main Building, was gutted.

The Fire Brigade, a long suffering arm of the equally distressed Uganda Police Force,took centre stage.
Straight to the point, the explanation will come later….good people, this country is in a very deep crisis. 

Look, God in the bad circumstances was very good and considerate to the firemen. The fire broke out in the dead of the night during the ungodly curfew hours. So the fire tenders were excused from manoeuvring through Kampala’s awful gridlock and getting to the Makerere hill. 

At the scene of the fire, the road was nice and clear, enough space to play football, park where they wished without obstruction and distraction. There were no students to wiseacre or crowds of looters as is the wont neither were there helpless women, drunk men and children to first take care of and interfere with the firemen’s time to shine. 
I don’t think there will ever be a more perfect location to fight a fire than the one at the Main Building. 

Then the drama unfolded. There was no water or hydrant or whatever is used to deal with such fires. Had the Fire Brigade  travelled all the way to first ascertain if there was really a fire or someone was just fooling around? After proving that it was indeed a fire, they decided to go back to appropriately dress up and ready their equipment for the angry fire that was taking no prisoner and leaving only ashes in its wake.  

Again the God of second chances brought them back safely and with gusto they begun. The fidgeting and fixing this and that begun in earnest before an anti-climax. The contraptions could not rise up to the task. Dealing with low pressure to push the water all the way to the blazing conflagrating fire now became the priority.

Just imagine if we were dealing with a densely populated area with narrow roads that have become a major feature of our town planning. Then the water run out along the way. Then the fire had a second go after the fire brigade had packed their equipment and left. 

The sight of one of the firemen bending over trying to repair an ancient Mercedes Benz truck, which first came into action in the early 1980s, summed the whole episode up. 
The Fire Brigade in Uganda is almost dead. It rarely gets to a scene in time and when it does, its obsolete equipment simply carries out euthanasia, by helping the fire to finish off its victim with dignity and minimal pain. 

A lucky person may get to salvage a saucepan and three quarters of their mattress. This is the same department of a Force with solid, bullet-proof, anti-riot personnel carriers, water cannons, mambas, mobile prisons, and all the works. The ambulances like the fire tenders, are a rarity. 

So are the patrol vehicles when a citizen sends 999 distress call especially regarding an attack by armed robbers. 
That sums it up. The Uganda Police Force can be and is very efficient. But that efficiency is quite selective. If it is for mundane things like helping a citizen or their property or even securing public property like the Main Building at Makerere prepare for a  long tale of excuses as to why it just can’t happen right.

When it comes to stopping the Opposition from holding assemblies as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, you will see all the energy and innovation in the apparently lackadaisical police force (mis)quoting the Constitution to justify their actions. They make it seem the motto to serve and to protect is limited to the perpetuating those that hold the reins of power. Seemingly, it is for that group that the men in uniform strap their shinny boot before they hit the road. 

Quickly we must add for also the ones who are willing to part with an odd dime to speed things up.
The troubling bit is that it is not the exception, but the norm. Act tough and violently towards those demonstrating for food or for a political cause. Then drag your feet like a reluctant convert when the same citizen asks to be served and protected by the officers of the law when they need them most.

So the smarter people like most industrialists, have their own fire fighting equipment. Others take it a notch higher and constitute their own law enforcement mechanisms outside of the police force. 

They will threaten to sort out those who cross their path, ironically often using the police outside the normal channels. 
It is this sort of sanitised mob ‘justice’ that at times ends with mysterious deaths that the Uganda police is leading us into temptation.     

Twitter: @nsengoba