Isa Senkumba
When security becomes an unaffordable luxury
The primary role of government is to protect its citizens and their property
Today we can confidently say that security is a basic necessity and therefore a human right. But reality has it that this is not true. There is no doubt that everyone wants to live in a safe neighborhood. In many parts of the world, that’s a luxury because some people just don’t have.
The primary role of government is to protect its citizens and their property. This is merely a song rather than a practical reality. To be assured of some security you must do the following: Build a strong fence around your house and fix strong doors, employ a private guard from a private security company and pay him handsomely, own a fierce dog and acquire a private licensed gun, move with an armed escort, Install a security system in your home and so on. The question is; how many people citizens can afford that?
According to 2013 statistics the ten countries which have the world’s highest murder rates arranged from the highest are Columbia, South Africa, Saint Kit and Nevis, Swaziland, Jamaica, Guatemala. El Salvador, Belize, Venezuela, and Honduras. South Africa is still one of the most dangerous countries in the world, but it has almost halved its murder rate in recent decades.
The year 2014 brings on board Ethiopia among countries with the highest crime rate. Ethiopian citizens are under serious threat of internal crimes and external wars. The peace seems to have been ended from this nation. Every year, according to a report, over 2000 people are murdered in road accidents, terrorism attacks and about 1200 women are raped and physically harmed.
According to the 2014 world crime report Uganda is fairly featuring among the countries with the highest murder rate in the world. The crime of murder has reached over 92 % in Uganda. Not only the murder but also street crimes and rape cases have been increased in just a few years. We are now comfortably competing with Zambia, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, German and others.
Zambia is a nation of black and uneducated community. The people down there live miserable lives with close to zero monthly earnings. The increasing rate of unemployment is said to be the reason behind increased crime rate in Zambia.
Several sets of factors facilitate violence in the region. The causes include the rupture of traditional institutions of social control, such as the family, religion, and the school system. Not poverty itself but rather deprivation and inequality appear as causes of violence. Other adverse environmental and physical conditions in urban areas,
South Africa is a land of tourists. Here the street robberies, gangster rapes and theft attacks have been increased over 70 % as compared to the last few years. It is considered that South Africa’s foreigners are especially made the victim of these crimes e.g the lack of conflict-resolution mechanisms and impunity, encourage violence. The high rate of alcohol consumption, the media’s trivialization of violence, and access to weapons facilitate violence.
We find that public insecurity, particularly in urban areas, has overwhelmed police action to become, by virtue of a range of circumstances, an “issue” confronting society as a whole. Violence has assumed considerable weight in the configuration of the security insecurity equation. There is a serious need to prevent these conflicts before all people are turned into victims.
Crime prevention refers to “all policies, measures, and techniques, outside the boundaries of the criminal justice system, aiming at a reduction of the various kinds of damage caused by acts defined as criminal by the state.”
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