Africa-Press – Uganda. National Unity Platform’s (NUP) top brass has encouraged the Greater Masaka Sub-region residents to form vigilante groups to ward off machete-wielding gangs.
Officials from the leading Opposition party told the media yesterday that the government has failed to return a semblance of normality to the panic-stricken area.
Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, the NUP secretary-general, said: “The people of Masaka…are on their own” after
“President Museveni called these killings politically motivated.”
He added: “[The people of Masaka] should organise themselves and counter these attackers.”
There have been more than 28 deaths registered in the greater Masaka region since July 22 when machete-wielding gangs first struck.
The latest victims in the night raids were named Wednesday as Peter Mayanja, 35, and Annet Nampijja, a septuagenarian.
The latest streak of attacks mirrors incidents that played out between 2017 and 2018 where at least 30 people were murdered in cold blood while 50 sustained I injuries. Following the spate of attacks, the residents of Nakasongola District found refuge in vigilante groups.
NUP legislators have resolved to pitch camp in Masaka in a bid to capture the imagination of security agents. Kalungu West legislator Joseph Ssewungu says some of the Covid-19 measures, especially a dusk-to-dawn curfew must be eased.
He also said: “We want to know who these pigs that President Museveni keeps referring to [are]. You mean there are pigs killing people in Masaka without being eaten? When high profile officials are killed, Museveni says that pigs have done so. We want the residents to catch these pigs and at least eat them.”
During his last address at the passing out of new prisons officers, President Museveni referred to the gangs as “pigs” who are politically mobilised.
NUP spokesperson Joel Ssenyionyi said they understood the latter as a subtle reference to the leading Opposition party.
“This is a scapegoat for this regime which has shown all its weaknesses to the people,” Ssenyonyi added.
Makindye East MP Derrick Nyeko said the tense situation is the byproduct of poor police funding.
He added: “Most of the police posts that were put up in the region were removed and the motorcycles for officers are not fuelled for them to do impromptu patrols.”
The attackers, whose motive is yet to be established, are mostly targeting the elderly people, presumptuously because they can hardly defend themselves.
Most of the deceased are between the age of 50 and 85.
