Police deployment at Makerere Hostels unwarranted.

Police deployment at Makerere Hostels unwarranted.

In 2005 in the pages of the daily Monitor Newspaper I warned about guns in Makerere University. Then I was a first year at University and had witnessed a student being shot by a colleague in a love-gone sour incident. I expressed dissatisfaction at the increasing gun culture in Makerere then with students attached to security agencies carrying guns . Recently 3 students were shot by a trigger happy guard over an election disagreement. I also warned about the militarization of students politics in Makerere with the influx of security agents during guild elections with a view of intimidating students. That same year a student was shot dead in a riot at campus and yet this wasn’t the first time that police under the same government had killed students. In 1990 at Makerere two students were killed by police in a riot at campus over student’s welfare during Mao’s reign as guild president. Now police has taken over the security of the student’s hostels but I don’t think this is a wise decision as police and students are sworn enemies. I commend the police for their work but am afraid they are prescribing the right medicine for a wrong ailment.

I don’t think the students died because of insufficient security but because of incompetencies of the police. Makerere has two police stations and a third one is in the offing but despite these cases of insecurity are rampant. Even if each hall was protected by a garrison, matters related to student’s risky behaviour would always arise as long as there are motivating factors such as a strike, an election or mutual disagreements amongst students.

Even if police was deployed, with constables shooting innocent children, the probability that disagreements between students (who are always known to have extra-ordinary detestation for uniformed characters) and police are bound to arise and trigger happy constables are more likely to unleash terror much in the same way as the private security guards.

Moses Kalanzi

Kampala