Wednesday, July 14, 2010

11 July Terorist Attacks on Kampala


Sunday, July 11, 2010 will be remembered as a dark day in Uganda’s history. It is the day terrorists carried out their threat to bomb targets in Uganda, ostensibly because the country has its soldiers stationed in Somalia on an African Union peacekeeping mission.
It is the day close to 80 innocent people were killed and hundreds injured as the bombs ripped through Kyadondo Rugby Grounds on Jinja Road and the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala.
As we mourn with the families and friends of the victims, we can’t stop asking what these men and women did to deserve such a cruel death. Why target innocent, defenceless people?
Yet the mourning has to end and life continues. Ugandans are a resilient people and we shall overcome this tragedy. We just need to be vigilant at individual, family, community and country levels, as a way to protect ourselves from this new enemy.
We also need to ask ourselves what wasn’t done to avert such attacks. While it is impossible to completely stop a determined terrorist, as demonstrated in heavily fortified countries such as the United States and Israel; it is possible to make it more difficult for them, or to at least make it easier to hunt the culprits down.
One of the tools that can help in that regard is CCTV cameras. These are widely employed to good effect in preventing crime or apprehending criminals especially in Western countries. In the run-up to the 2007 CHOGM in Kampala, several of them were planted in strategic areas in the city but it’s not clear to what use they have been put ever since. CCTV cameras covering the two bombed sites would now be pointing us to how it happened and who did it. Considering the cost implications, the government could work closely with private investors in the entertainment industry to have CCTV cameras at all major entertainment places.
A national ID data base and fingerprinting would be another useful tool. Uganda has been dillydallying over the national ID project, rushing to bring in an overpriced system recently, purposely for the 2011 elections. We need a modern system that would help expose such criminals.
Lastly, Uganda badly needs more serious border control and stricter immigration procedures. The current system that makes it so easy for every Tom, Dick and Harry to enter Uganda and/or acquire a Ugandan passport is causing our country great harm.

The above script; Courtesy of the Observer Paper,Kampala-East Africa.