By Job Bwire

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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has promised to defeat the “criminals” responsible for the attempted assassination of Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gen Katumba Wamala survived an attempt on his life near his home. At around 9 am, assassins shot at his vehicle killing his daughter, Brenda and Driver, Haruna Kayondo. Gen Katumba Wamala was rushed to the hospital after the incident.

On his social media platforms, the President called the assailants “pigs who do not value life” as he expressed his deepest condolences to Ugandans and the families of the deceased.

“We shall defeat the criminals as we did in the past. We already have clues to those killers,” the president shared on his Twitter handle @KagutaMuseveni.

However, multiple assassinations of the same kind in the previous years have not yet been solved. This contradicts the President’s statement of having defeated such criminals in the past.

Gen Museveni has, in the past made statements promising to “defeat” the “killer pigs” in what appears to be a ritual assurance whenever a murder occurs.

For instance, following the assassination of Abiriga on June 8, 2018, Gen Museveni who described the killers as ‘pigs and parasites’, said the government would dedicate resources towards modernising the anti-crime capacity of the security forces and also require citizens to be more vigilant.

“They [killers] are pigs, they are idiots,” Museveni told residents and the victims’ relatives at the scene of Abiriga’s murder the following day. The president promised to hunt the killers down.

He reiterated the need for installation of CCTV cameras on highways, offices and homes, and tracking of all auto-mobiles in the country through mandatory mounting of tracking devices on vehicles.

‘‘I only need focus from our MPs so that we budget adequately for the anti-crime infrastructure and for wealth and job creation ahead of consumption and administration,’‘Mr Museveni added.

Earlier that year, the president had, in the wake of the shocking brutal murder of city accountant, Susan Magara vowed to bring the “pigs” to book.

Magara, 28, disappeared on February 7, 2018 and had been held for 21 days by her kidnappers who wanted ransom before her body was discovered dumped in Kigo off the Entebbe expressway.

"Susan's murder shows what sort of swine (pigs) we have in Africa that do not value treasures like the beautiful Suzzie whom, unfortunately, I had not had the opportunity of meeting. As for the killers of Susan, we shall get them because there are clues they left behind. I will not allow anybody to interfere with freedom of our young people," Mr Museveni vowed before proposing a number of measures that he hoped would help combat such kind of criminality.

Mr Museveni then suggested that government takes the palm print records of every Ugandan as well as their DNA. According to him, this would be coupled with the CCTV cameras installed in the cities and towns across the country.

The president further hinted at a new tracking system which he says will eliminate the misuse of vehicles and Boda bodies.

“The new system of digital beacons on all vehicles and Boda Bodas will eliminate the misuse of vehicles and Boda Bodas to commit crimes,” the President tweeted.

Museveni hailed the efforts of Gen Katumba Wamala’s bodyguard whose actions may have saved the former Minister of Works and transport’s life. He, however, is not happy with the bodyguard’s decision to shoot in the air.

“The bodyguard should not have shot in the air. He should have shot to kill. We could be having a dead terrorist instead of scaring away the terrorists,” the President’s message reads.

The President’s message

The pigs who do not value life shot Gen. Katumba killed his daughter and driver and injured him. Condolences on the loss of the two Ugandans. I talked to Gen. Katumba twice on the phone. He is being well-managed.

We shall defeat the criminals as we did in the past. We already have clues to those killers. Besides, the new system of digital beacons on all vehicles and Boda Bodas will eliminate the misuse of vehicles and Boda Bodas to commit crimes.

I wish Gen. Katumba a quick recovery. The bodyguard should not have shot in the air. He should have shot to kill. We could be having a dead terrorist instead of scaring away the terrorists. His shooting saved Gen. Katumba by scaring the criminals away.

However, killing one or more of the terrorists would have done the same and more.

Signed: Yoweri T K Museveni. Gen(rtd).
President of Uganda