Photo: Eric Dominic Bukenya/Daily MonitorThe horrendous mass killings in the Rwenzori sub-region, particularly Kasese district, have jolted Ugandans, alarmed the world and raised the spectre of an incubating apocalypse.
By scale and intensity, it dwarfs the horror of the preceding spate of shoot-and-run killings by gunmen in different parts of the country.
Those who pull the trigger flee mostly on motorcycles. With no information as to their identity or motivation, the rampaging shooters have injected fear among Ugandans and nudged them into the disturbing alley of confusion.
Ugandans understandably are on the precipice of losing faith in the government's ability to secure them since the State's primary responsibility is protecting the lives and property of its citizens.
We ask: Is the State and government, or its proxy actors, complicit in these cold-blood murders so that no official can explain what is going on? Or, is the government losing, if not abdicating, its core mandate?
In our view, the rising extra-judicial killings sign-post cracks and failures in our intelligence and security organs.
Our spies as well as men and women in uniform have in the past proudly protected us in spite of the proliferation of illegal guns. They still can, but with better leadership.
We are alive to the fact that the existence of a plethora of security agencies and paramilitary groups, some with allegiance to powerful individuals in government rather than the State, renders them susceptible to work at cross-purposes.
The Intelligence and security system is clogged with some incompetent people; the funding inadequate; investigative tools and techniques archaic; and, low personnel morale due to uneven promotions.
As President Museveni re-organises his government, we ask that he shakes up the heads in all Intelligence and security agencies to stem the tide of soaring crime and extra-judicial killings. This is instructive.
The refrain of the President's current term is kisanja hakuna mchezo or, put another way, time for action and no playing games. The Cabinet and permanent secretaries have been shuffled to improve government's efficiency and performance.
There should be no countenance of the laissez-faire conduct by those whose job it is to protect us all.
Our security personnel and spies must act professionally, without the bias or temptation for political correctness or profiteering.
As the appointing authority, let the President save Uganda from sliding back into the "dark past" by renewing the leadership of all security forces.
