Opinions
Boda Boda rider’s setting self ablaze a sign of frustration of the common man
IGP Martin Okoth Ochola
The entire country is still in shock following Hussein Walugembe’s decision to burn himself up after his plea to police officers in Masala failed to lead to the release of his bike.
In one of his addresses updating the nation on issues concerning coronavirus in the country recently, president Yoweri Museveni acknowledged that the only weed that has persistently grown in Uganda uninterrupted since he came to power was corruption. He vowed to vigorously uproot the weed!
We are free to pretend as if we are not seeing what is happening but the truth is, so many of the guidelines put in place by the government to slow the spread of coronavirus are not adhered to a tall in this country.
Ugandans rarely observe social distancing. We today attend burials and here, during such ceremonies, it is normal life. People are seen shaking hands. While attending burial ceremonies, it is rare to see the really grieving Ugandans wearing masks.
Police in Uganda you are not right. You are to blame, by both peace loving Ugandans and president Museveni. As if you are tired of Museveni and his government.
You must style up Uganda Police Force! Boda Boda riders are carrying people even through the city centre as Traffic Police Officers look on, on a daily basis.
Ugandans are today totally seeming ready to violate and ignore what the authorities are telling them. They do often and get away with it. Corruption!
They say they were locked down in their homes and that no one, in power, came out to cater for them. Poorly paid and tired perhaps, law enforcers no longer care too. They have continued looking on, and accepting bribes from Ugandans, while Ugandans defy every guideline that was put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The Arab Spring in early 2010s, was ignited by only an underestimated incident like that that we saw in Masaka last Thursday. People are tired and now they can do anything to show their discontentment against the authorities.
Boda boda riders are almost jobless having been allowed to carry cargo alone for close to three months now! The president about 20 years looked always eager to listen to what his people always said. Or he hás today aged?
Ugandans are not happy at all with the way the government has handled coronavirus pandemic issues. A boda boda rider burns himself in Masaka and the entire country is today keeping quiet as if nothing happened. Absurd!
Ugandans’ hearts are full of fear today, as if this country belongs to a small group of people whose duty is to do the talking and ordering as we follow in obedience.
This country belongs to me, the family of the late Hussein Walugembe and you.
What happened in Masaka on Thursday concerns us all. Walugembe’s motorcycle was caught being ridden during curfew hours but his is not the only one doing it in Uganda.
In Kampala and wherever I have gone since April, one can defy a directive as long as he or she posseses some money he can dish to the law enforcers, if he is caught in the act.
President Museveni vowed recently that he is ready to send corrupt officials in the system to hell. This is the time ,please, we translated our words into action Mr president.
The Police Force in Uganda is totally rotten. I would urge even its chief Martin Okoth Ochola to resign immediately. Ochola shocked the nation the other day when he said he never knew a full Honourable Member of Parliament, Francis Zaake, who was nursing bruises inflicted upon him by deeply tribalistic men in uniform.
The police in Uganda are corrupt! Hussein Walugembe burned himself before Police Officers in Masaka. He burned himself because he was tired of living like most Ugandans are today.
Ugandans are not talking, because so many of them are full of fear and voiceless, but if asked they would say they would do exactly what Hussein Walugembe in Masaka did.
Ugandans are paying all the bills today despite the fact that their movements are still restricted. A lot of such people feeding their families and at the sane time paying for water and electricity and paying before accessing television channels have been home for more than three months now. They are not working.
Hundreds of thousands of Ugandans are suffering. We are strong beings. Thank you Ugandans! Some of us would have committed suicide long time ago.
We the rich-looking have feed ourselves plus our children for three months now as authorities continue to focus their eagle-like eyes on less important things.
Walugembe was right when he set himself on fire. His continuing to live meant he had to continue riding the motorcycle he was asking from Masaka Police officers. Officers wanted money which he never had. He burned himself.
This is a lesson to all of us now alive. We perhaps thought it is only Arabs who could do such courageous deeds that sparked protests across the Arab world about 10 years ago.
People have been angry and desperate for long! We are heading into a certain path and if authorities don’t begin now to listen to what people say, we are likely to see what we saw happening in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the Arab world in the early 2010s.
This regime is squeezing the poor man’s nose hard. The tightly squeezed nose is about to bleed. It is sad news that a man, whose occupation has been indefinitely banned in the country, has done such a thing to himself. Perhaps we are about to see a teacher doing the same.
Arcades owners and their tenants are about to do what Walugembe did to himself, in Masaka. Police Officers at Masaka Central Police Station wanted to extort money from poor Walugembe who was already tired of his life having slept hungry, with his family, for days.
Walugembe decided to take his own life. Covid-19 patients in Masaka too are saying they are living in hell, in Masaka hospital. Authorities should act now.
Martin Okoth Achola and other top Officers in Uganda Police Force must resign now probably.
These careless law enforcers are the very people the president wants to see in hell. What corrupt law enforcers the Uganda Police Force are! The president should apologize for locking some Ugandans down with no food given to them, strictly for more than three months!
Children will study from home until further notice but the government in Uganda will not talk to NWSC or UMEME to render completely free services to its people so that the country’s children may probably continue preparing for end of year exams.
More people are going set themselves ablaze. It will be up to Museveni’s enemies now. A young street vendor in Tunisia ended his life about 10 years ago. Tunisia never remained the same. Perhaps the time now! Authorities must wake up!
Officers in Charge at Masaka Central Police Station at the time of Walugembe’s death should apologize, resign and stay away forever otherwise, the common man is now in need of rising up. It is only the frustrated and oppressed man that finds it necessary to end the life he owned.
Someone must listen otherwise, something bizarre will happen. Good leaders listen. They retire popular leaders then. People are angry. Listen Mr. President! Hussein Walugembe’s soul must rest in peace!
An Arab can burn himself. A Ugandan can do it too. The problems to be solved are many in the country. Do something authorities! Masaka men have resorted to burning themselves. No rifle is heavy for such a man. Listen, government!
Comments
