STATEMENT ON

URBAN CRIME

H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

STATE HOUSE ENTEBBE

15TH September, 2018

1
COUNTRYMEN, COUNTRY-WOMEN AND BAZZUKULU

I have, again, decided to address you directly through the radios

and the TVs, this time, just on the urban crime that has seen the
killings of:

1. Sheiks: Mustafa Bahiga, Daktur Muwaya, Jowat Madangu,

Yusuf Ssentamu, Kirya, Yunis Sentuga, etc.;

2. Joan Kagezi;

3. Major Kiggundu;

4. Felix Kaweesi;

5. Susan Magara,

6. Col. Abiriga and, recently, Mohamad Kirumira.

Then, there were the killings of the women in Entebbe area and
Nansana and the killings in the Masaka area on New Year’s Day
of this year. A total of 66 suspects have been arrested and
brought to court in connection with these cases. Certainly in the
cases of Muwaya, Magara, Kaweesi, Kiggundu, arrests have been
made and the suspects have been brought to Court.

What is worrying and annoying Ugandans is not just the killings.

Killings, sometimes, happen in other countries on even bigger
scale. As I mentioned in the address of last week, in the USA
alone, the following killings have taken place in recent years
according to some records:

 2015 - 13,286

 2016 - 17,250

 2017 - 15,549

 2018 - 10,129

(Source – Gun Violence Archive)

2
All these have resulted in the death of a total of 56,214 persons.
The difference, however, is that, in the case of the USA and other
developed countries, on account of modern eyes (cameras),
modern ears (listening to telephones of criminals) and modern
noses (smelling for explosives), etc., the perpetrators (the doers of
these acts), are quickly known. However, sometimes, even in
those countries, the search for a criminal takes time. The
example, is the case of the Russian spies that were poisoned by
radiation in the Salisbury area. It took quite a bit of time. Even
in Belgium, where criminals were springing from to commit
crimes in France ─ the night club shooting, the killing of holiday
makers in Southern France by driving a lorry into them, etc., it
took quite a bit of time to identify the culprits and hold them
accountable.

In my address to Parliament on the 20th of June, 2018, I

analysed in detail the issues of security. I decided to address
Parliament myself, rather than delegating the Minister to give
what they call “Ministerial Statement”, because the issues of a
country like Uganda, when it comes to security, should not be
handled in isolation from one another. They are all linked.

It is the liberation of Uganda starting with 27 guns, the recovery

of the economy starting from a very low base of US$ 3.4billion,
the handling of the social services (education, health, etc), in
spite of that very small economy at the time, the fighting of rural
terrorism (Kony, ADF, UPA, Itongwa, etc,) and handling the
40,000 illegal guns in the hands of the cattle-rustlers in
Karamoja, the building of the infrastructure (the roads, the
electricity, the piped water, the ICT backbone, the railway) that
was so crucial for the recovery of the economy in the first place,
funding the democratization of the country (Constituent
Assembly-CA, General elections, Local Government elections, etc)
and funding the Administration of the country (salaries, etc).

How do you do all this, starting with the tax collection of only
Shs. 5 billion in 1986/87, for a medium sized country like
Uganda of 93,000sq miles and with a growing population that is
now 40 million? On top of all this, add a disloyal and corrupt
civil service which, for historical and practical reasons, you
cannot and should not get rid of in a crude and hurried manner.
In addition, on account of coming from the different back

3
grounds (the National Resistance Army, the Resistance Councils,
the Colonial and post-colonial Civil Service, the Judiciary that
has its orientation from the British system, the political class
that may have a careerist orientation, etc), the ideas of budgeting
may, sometimes, be discordant and need patience to achieve a
convergence of views and action.

What is remarkable and all the actors that have been involved
should congratulate themselves on, is that we have successfully
covered every phase, challenges notwithstanding. What were the
phases and elements to handle?

(i) Liberation;

(ii) Economic recovery;

(iii) Infrastructure;

(iv) Social services (Education and health);

(v) Democratization (Parliament, Local District

Councils, Elections);

(vi) Administration (salaries, etc); and

(vii) Defence and Security.

How do we manage to fund all these when the government

revenues were still low? The answer is: prioritization
(Okusosowaza, Kukuratanisa, iyoreiyore, tic kore tikore, Ubata
etc). This means that some of the areas are left unattended to,
not because we do not know that they are necessary, but because
we cannot do everything at the same time. You all saw our
soldiers staying in the grass-huts of Maama ingiya pole for a long
time. That is how we were able to buy very good weapons that
enabled us to deal with the very dangerous regional situations
that were surrounding us.

Had we made a mistake on that, we would have failed. When we

have built 160,381 classrooms from the 28,000 of 1986, but have
not yet built teachers’ houses, is it because we do not know that
teachers need houses near the schools? When we have

4
concentrated on immunization but have not dealt with the health
workers’ houses, is it because we do not know the importance of
those houses? No Sir, No Madam.

We know; but we also know that when you try to do everything at

the same time, you end up doing nothing. If you try to be
everywhere, you will end up being nowhere. That is the strategy
and discipline of the NRM that has enabled us to convert the
failed State of Uganda into one of the fastest growing economies
in the world. Kamukamu gwe mugaanda; akwata empora atuuka
wala; bugu-bugu simurilo.

Hence, on the side of Defence and Security, we concentrated on

defending the borders (strategic defence), defeating terrorism in
the rural areas and ending the massive armed cattle rustling in
Karamoja and the whole of the North-East. Those have been
achieved. That is how Uganda is an island of peace in this area
and is also contributing to regional peace.

We had, however, not concentrated on urban crime because it

was not yet a major problem. How many vehicles did Uganda
have in 1986? The figure was 27,210 vehicles in 1987 as
compared to 657,378 in 2018. How many piki-pikis did Uganda
have in 1986? The figure was 4,187. How many phones, some of
which could be used to coordinate crime, did we have in 1986?

The figure was 28,000 land lines. How many vehicles does
Uganda have today? How many piki-pikis? How many telephones
(mobile)? The respective figures for today are: motor-vehicles –
657,378; motor-bicycles – 1,063,922; and mobile phones –
24million.

Of course, we knew that these items were growing in number.

However, we did not anticipate that evil minded people would
want to kutokooza (Runyankore ─ for something bad like a fly
falling into one’s food or drink) this success story, to turn
something good into an instrument of killing Ugandans.

However, even if we had known, we could not easily have dealt

with all the challenges at the same time. By, for instance,
concentrating on the electricity, the roads, the schools, the health
5
centres, the wider society of Uganda has been able to see that
transformation is possible. Would that have been the case if we
had only concentrated on the infrastructure and the security of
the towns and forgotten the countryside? It would have been bad
planning. The people in the countryside would not have known
what development and modernization are about.

However, since every corner of the country has seen signs of

development (tarmac roads, electricity, new schools, new health
centres, mobile phones, etc), we can now intensify our work in
the towns, not only in terms of more urban roads, garbage
collection, improved sewerage, etc., but also in terms of security
infrastructure and cleanliness of the cities and towns. As usual,
we always start with security. Hence, my address to Parliament
on the 20th of June, 2018. The 10 elements of that speech are
being implemented expeditiously. They are:

(a) Finger printing all the guns in Uganda;

(b) Require every motor-vehicle and every piki-piki to have

electronic number plates installed at the cost of the owner or
inserted in the engine;

(c) Ban the practice of people zooming along our roads with
jacket hoods to hide their identity; we need helmets with
illuminating numbers both infront and at the back;

(d) Installation of cameras on the town roads and streets and

also along the highways;

(e) Having a modern forensic laboratory;

(f) Speed of response and how quickly we arrive at the

crime scene;

(g) Controlling the use of UAVs; there are technical means of

neutralizing UAVs. The Defence Committee has authorized 30
UAVs, 131UAVs have put in their application and 500 have been
impounded.

(h) Misuse of social media ─ criminals use social media to

threaten violence and to spread lies;

6
(i) We shall acquire more scanners under URA to look into
all the containers entering and leaving Uganda so that the under
declarers of imports stop cheating URA and criminals who
infiltrate guns hidden as cargo are apprehended or deterred;

(j) A small Army with a large number of officers, NCOs and

technical crews and also with enough equipment but backed by a
large Reserve Force.

We had to undertake these measures to modernize our security

infrastructure because the short-sighted and their malicious
accomplices thought that they could use our relaxed life-style ─
the trans-night dances, the trans-night prayer sessions, the
chaotic driving on the roads, etc., to undermine Uganda’s fast
development. Hence, our response as was recapitulated above
and as was elaborated in my speech in Parliament.

In the meantime, using even the old methods, during the

intervening months while the new systems are being put in place,
we can still defeat these terrorists. It is laborious, but is possible.
What should we do in the interim?

1. First and foremost, vigilance (oburindaara) by noting and

reporting any new persons, motor-cycles or cars that hover
around your area or you notice following you. The killings of the
Sheikhs, Kagezi, Kiggundu, Abiriga and, recently, Kirumira were,
obviously, done by people who were either following them or
waiting for them. A limited degree of vigilance would have
exposed them before the act.

2. Quick coordination with the Police. Each Police Station or

Post should have a number that is known to the public in the
area that every member of the public with a phone can ring when
he/she sees anything suspicious. This number should not be the
number of the OC (officer in charge) of the station because that
officer may be in meetings where he/she switches off his/her
phone. It should be for the police personnel on duty at the Police
Station so that the reaction is instant. That is how the Police and
the wanainchi killed the notorious Kiddawalime that had been
part of the gang that killed 5 people on New Year’s day, 2018, in
the Masaka area.

7
3. Efficient coordination within the Police force using radios
rather than the slow methods of using the unprofessional mobile
phones. The radios alert everybody to be on the lookout for the
fugitive motor-cycle or car rather than a mobile phone that
communicates with one person at a time. It should be the Public
to use the mobile phones not the Police, while communicating
among themselves.

4. The deployment of the UPDF or the Reserve Units, as stated

in my address of last week (9th September, 2018), in the Wakiso-
Kampala area or any other area where they may be needed.

5. There has been serious internal criticism of the intelligence

staff that have been neglecting information from the public,
unjustifiably labeling information sources as intelligence peddlers
or not concluding investigations.

6. The purge of the criminal and corrupt elements that had

infiltrated the Police is continuing. The incidents of crime that
have been happening expose these elements. The apprehension
of those criminal elements, illuminates more the evil elements
involved. The Police force is being cleaned of them.

7. The private citizens that are able should continue to install

cameras in their homes or business premises. All these will help.

By the end of 9 months from today, most of the elements of the

smart and safe City will be in place. We can, then, scale down
the reliance on human intelligence and human observation
because the technical (the machine) means will be in place.

I am annoyed and pained by these unnecessary deaths of

Ugandans; but I am confident because we have the capacity to
respond. We were able to respond and win when we had less
means. Our means are much greater today. I encourage investors
to assemble the cameras here so as to have more local content.

The pigs that have doomed their future by shedding the blood of
innocent Ugandans, have only themselves to blame for their
eternal damnation.

8
With the new teams of investigations, even the old cases of
murders are being exposed as to who the killers were. It says, in
the Book of Luke: Chapter 12:2-3: “There is nothing concealed
that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.
What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight
and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be
proclaimed from the housetops”. Be confident and vigilant. We
are going to have safe and smart towns and cities, just as we
have been able to create a network of good roads and electricity
lines in the country side.

I thank you.

Date:

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

President