Perhaps we should all be police officers

As we continue headlong into the regurgitating inanity that is Uganda’s rollercoaster elections, the gross contradictions that embody our governance and politics continue unencumbered.

Dear reader, let us review a few instances that should have us questioning why we remain overly yoked to the incumbent ruling regime. For this is not about whether you are blood red for People Power or witheringly yellow for the lumbering bus, but how to attain that Uganda that functions for every Ugandan.

On April 6, Police Constable Suleiman Chemonges, 28, was deployed at the burial of 48-year-old Lazarus Kahangire in a village in Ibanda district. A few hours later, Chemonges lay dead, even before the burial of Kahangire.

Kahangire, who was on remand facing charges of attempted murder (over a land dispute that ended in physical confrontation according to The Daily Monitor), died on April 4 while in prison in Ibanda district. News of his demise whilst on remand sparked anger and suspicion within his community.

On April 7, the Uganda Prisons Service revealed a post-mortem that showed Kahangire died due to illness (lobar pneumonia and anaemia), adding that he had been weak since the start of his incarceration. Inevitably for Chemonges, when he turned up for duty at Kahangire’s burial, he found himself amidst an antagonistic and suspicious crowd.

The video of the mob chasing him down as he attempts to scare them off by firing into the air is distressing. You can see the creeping escalation, the inevitability of being hunted down like vermin as the trickle of people chasing Chemonges grows into a mob, that eventually clobbers Chemonges to death.

Given the anger and suspicion surrounding the circumstances of Kahangire’s death, many netizens rightly questioned why the police sent a lone Chemonges on such a fatal mission. Investigating the events that led to Chemonges’ killing, the police disclosed that Chemonges had been deployed alongside another officer, but only Chemonges ended up at the burial.

Commendably, the police indicated it is also investigating its own professional conduct to identify any lapses that might have sent Chemonges to such a violent end. Within days of Chemonges’ death, the police reported that it has arrested at least 40 people over the death.

Again, this is commendable that the police are working quickly to bring the culprits to book. Yet, where is this efficiency for the family of Julius Ssemwaka? On December 23, Ssemwaka, a truck driver, was en route delivering jerrycans to a client. The festive season was in high gear; Ssemwaka was probably relishing spending a few days relaxing with family and friends over sumptuous feasts that dot Ugandan households during Christmas.

Alas! On that fateful day, the festive season came to a brutal end for Ssemwaka and his loved ones in plush Nakasero in Kampala. Nile Post reported that police constable Charles Bahati who was atop a police patrol vehicle, shot dead Ssemwaka after the truck driver failed to give way for the police vehicle.

An eyewitness, a boda boda rider called Kassim Kasumba told the Daily Monitor that Bahati was not alone in that police patrol vehicle. Thus, I often wonder when I revisit this tragic killing, about Bahati’s fellow police officers who were with him that day.

What went through their minds as a charged and armed Bahati jumped out of the police vehicle to confront the unarmed civilian, Ssemwaka? Kasumba said the other officers attempted to calm down Ssemwaka but failed.

Today, Ssemwaka’s family still waits for justice, over 120 days later (Daily Monitor columnist Nicholas Sengoba, is faithfully keeping tally). Bahati is still on the run. Perhaps, in the interest of efficiency and ensuring all lives matter, we should all become police officers. To be fair, the police work hard; but for whom?

On April 28, the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) was to launch a campaign to encourage young people to participate in the 2026 elections by casting a protest vote. Well, that went south quickly and predictably.

The police, kitted out and heavily armed, responded by besieging NUP’s party headquarters. The police had earlier warned that it would not permit NUP to hold the event “in the interest of maintaining public order.”

The police notice posted on its social media account on X, did not bother itself with citing any laws in support of their directive. For why would an illegality need legality? Dear reader, in case you missed it, on April 24, the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) through its Office of the National Chairman (ONC) headed by Hajjat Hadija Namyalo Uzeiye/Chief Muzzukulu, launched the 2026 NRM campaign slogan.

The launch of the slogan, “Settle for the Best, M7 is the Best” (yes, that is the slogan – we listen, we don’t judge) was amidst much fanfare as young people from universities around Uganda pledged their support for the NRM presidential candidate, the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.

Supporters danced, ululated, hung out of moving cars emblazoned with Museveni posters, twerked here and there as they displayed their cheerful vigor. It was a perfect day in the NRM camp, for such is the luxurious impunity of the incumbent ruling party. They get to party as and when they please – since 1986.

There were no police or thuggish- looking security deployed “in the interest of maintaining public order.” No one is disappearing and torturing their supporters as has become the calling card for youthful NUP members.

Dear reader, we return to the beginning. This should no longer to be reduced to the political colour that sends your patriotism racing. Delight yourself, but please, for the sake of Uganda, fight for a Uganda that functions for every Ugandan. Settle for Uganda, which is the ‘bestest’.