Mr Nicholas Sengoba
Almost every day Ugandans are treated to video clips of people carrying out daring robberies on the streets of Kampala or in homes.
Travelling on multiple motorcycles, thieves waylay their victim usually carrying a rucksack with money from or to a bank in an isolated or at times on a busy street. Their power of numbers and muscle leaves only one loser. If they are lucky they live to tell the scary tale. Some have paid the ultimate price.
The latest fad is trailing the victim, sending them a Bruce Lee-like flying kick on the head that knocks them out. Then the thieves ransack their pockets and take off with their belongings. Typically, the onlookers either flee or simply look on helplessly.
Legend has it that what we call daring is in many cases the work of collaboration that shields the thieves. What we take as onlookers are usually part of the plot to distract those attempting to help.
Last year, Paddy Sserunjogi, aka Sobi, was killed in cold blood. Sobi was a notorious thief who had been a terror on the streets of Kampala and beyond for a very long time. So full of hubris and a sense of invincibility was he, that he even bragged about his exploits, which would make good material for a film on urban crime. When his Qur’anic 40 days came to an end, even more beans were spilled about what made Sobi. He was a willing actor in an environment that saw dogs hunting with wolves. Then the wolves ate him.
Sobi’s tragedy put faces into the findings of the Sebutinde Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the mismanagement in the Uganda Police in 1999/2000. It brought out a lot of things that the public suspected all along. That some elements within the Force not only shielded criminals and punished victims, but also hired guns to aid the latter in their exploits.
In 2002 as a response to escalating daring crimes of robbery and murder, Operation Wembley was launched as a counter measure under the command of then Col. Elly Kayanja. It ruthlessly targeted and in many cases shot to kill suspected robbers.
Many robbers were arrested including military officers. The overall effect was that the crime of robbery almost disappeared from the face of Kampala. Kayanja was written in Kampala’s history as a hero.
Now many people are calling for an encore of Kayanja and Wembley. What Operation Wembley brought to light was basically that most robbers are known and are very easy to pick out like grasshoppers. Secondly, many of them have godfathers for whom they operate and can easily be switched on and off by their benefactors. These are mainly powerful people. Thirdly it is possible to have a relatively robbery-free city or country if the powers that be put their heart into it.
The challenge for Uganda is that there are simply too many people who benefit from the act of robbery and crime in general.
Outside of the police you have the habitual thief who has decided mentally that it is their right to steal in order to survive. They are entitled and robbing is their designated source of livelihood. They may maim and kill in case the victim resists because he does not understand the plight of the robber.
Some of these operate as lone wolves looking for something to eat and get by. They may be a bit compassionate. I listen a lot to 88.8 CBS FM in the mornings. The presenter, Hajji Abbey Mukiibi, typically calls out ‘those who stole a bag from a vehicle around (say) the Clock Tower and tells them to take the money as a sweetener, but return the laptop and important documents to a designated place. Many have done so.
In other cases, robbers are organised under a Mafia-like boss. In many parts of Kampala, you have territorial leaders of robbers. If you know someone who knows them, you may easily recover your stolen property by approaching them through an emissary and paying ‘recovery fees’. They will simply instruct their man on the streets to do the needful. In case they land in trouble the boss can organise for their freedom including sureties in case matters go to court. In some cases, if you report the matter to the police properly detailing the place where you were robbed, they may trace the thief with ease. They have a rough idea of who operates where from the experience of the cases reported.
Then there are those who hired guns. Many people, especially in businesses downtown, tend to sort out their rivalry and competition on the streets. They bring down the one who is racing ahead of them by maliciously orchestrating the theft of his money or valuables.
The economic challenges of unemployment in a contracting economy aside, the supply of robbers keeps growing because the judicial system is too weak to punish the swelling armies of thieves. So they increase and become emboldened.
Perhaps the most important consequence of the sort of robbery you see in Kampala today is that it freaks out the individual. In the time of social media with clips going viral with others recycled from times gone by or from foreign lands, people become hysterical. They are not sure if they won’t be the next victim. They leave everything else and start thinking about staying alive. They make adjustments and censure their movement and what they do or say.
For instance, in some quiet neighbourhoods it is now risky to go jogging or take a peaceful, quiet walk for you can’t be sure if a group of boda boda riding criminals will not accost and rob you. You can’t go out early or use an ATM at night or early morning.
Slowly, the general narrative and focus drifts away from other social-economic national issues which begin to look and sound academic and lofty. People then concentrate on just being safe from robbers.
This is the unintended consequence of insecurity on the streets. When the NRM landed in town in 1986, there was a sense of relief. People could now have a full night’s sleep. The UNLF soldiers who ruled the roost before them had made the streets of this town so unsafe that most people scampered indoors by 5pm. Even in their own homes, they had sleepless nights because break-ins by ‘armed men in military uniform’ were a norm. Everybody was to themselves; conjuring up their own security and enforcement systems. Socializing was limited. So was organising against the governments which had fallen out of favour.
Some people who have been around for long can’t be blamed if they begin to get a sense of déjà vu about these tales from the past.
Twitter: @nsengoba
