The Observer (Kampala)
1 October 2008
editorial
That government is planning to give guns to Traffic Police officers is absurd. It is equally odd that government is planning to deploy Military Police officers on the roads to control traffic.
The government says this is because motorists often beat up unarmed officers on duty when they try to arrest or stop them from breaking the traffic rules.
The NRM government has a conflicting approach to gun culture. On the one hand, it is disarming Karimojong warriors who have visited terror on their pastoral neighbours; elsewhere it is popularising the use of the gun. There are already too many guns in our society - what with public and private security operatives every where, LC chairmen, RDCs, ministers, cadres, MPs, Movement chairmen - name them -carrying guns.
It is no secret that President Museveni has no faith in civilian institutions. He once considered disbanding the entire Police Force and replacing it with the military. Almost every government department has military personnel deployed there. If not, then the heads of sections have to enroll for a military course (mchaka mchaka). There is a warped view that security means possession of guns.
We must build a culture of compliance with the law not based on the fear and sight of guns, but on reason and understanding. Why should soldiers defy Police officers' orders? Nobody - not even the President - is above the law. And the work of maintaining law and order is vested in the Uganda Police Force. The infiltration of Police by the military has broken down their confidence and this is part of the reason why soldiers don't obey the traffic officers' orders. Why does government think it must use guns to achieve compliance? The belief that every law must be enforced at gun point is endangering the public psyche and setting an awful precedent. The impunity of the military officers on the roads is partly caused by the guns they wield.
So are Police officers going to exchange fire with their military colleagues over traffic offences? And what does this mean for public safety? Let every institution do the job it is supposed to do. Military Police is supposed to instill discipline in the barracks and quell mutinies but not solve traffic problems.
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