Cold Murder Of Party Supporter Sheik Hassan Ibrahim Kirya
We are yet again heart-broken by the cold murder of our historical supporter Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan Kirya. Like it happened before with our supporters; Sheik Abdul-Karim Sentamu and our Kampala party district leader Mustafa Bahiga, Kirya was shot at close range on June 31 at Bweyogere and died instantly.
In addition to being a strong pillar of the Muslim community, Kirya worked tirelessly in the inceptive days of JEEMA in 1996 and actively campaigned for our presidential candidate then, Mr Muhammad Mayanja.
Up to the time of his demise he has been offering vital inspiration to JEEMA—having been a close mentor and advisor of the party for many years.
We share our deep heartfelt pain with the family and friends of the deceased for this great loss.
May Allah accept his good deeds and forgive his shortcomings. Ameen.
2. IGP MUST RESIGN OVER INTERNAL SECURITY FAILURE
The nation will recall that as we mourned the demise of sheik Mustafa Bahiga in December last year, the Inspectorate General of Police conceded failure in protecting the lives of Ugandans as so required by its constitutional mandate. It asked for forgiveness and Ugandans granted it.
At that time, the nation had been terrorized with the various methods by which sacred lives of Ugandans were claimed mysteriously. Countryside homesteads, especially in the districts of Wakiso, Mpigi and Masaka were drilled at night and occupants hacked to death, Schools and markets were set ablaze leading to loss of lives and property. Now for three years since late sheik Abdul-Karim Sentamu was murdered in the city center in 2012, it has become routine for Muslims to be killed at will.
Amidst this, the police have never successfully made any logical investigation into these crimes for the judicial system to determine a worthwhile deterrent against the authors of these crimes. The direction that this trend is taking, suggests that the current spate of murders is soon extending from the Muslim community to the Roman Catholic faithful, to the Anglican and the Pentecostals.
Therefore, no Ugandan is safe and Ugandans are cautioned not to view this as an exclusive problem of Muslims. They should give it a broader perspective and outlook to understand it as a national security threat.
Whereas JEEMA does not doubt the competency of the nation’s police career officers to conduct an investigation process into these crimes and save the lives of Ugandans, we believe this capability is undermined by the NRM government policy of militarizing and politicizing, the otherwise civil security agency that the policy force is globally meant to be.
For this reason, JEEMA is demanding that the IGP must resign with immediate effect and give way for career police officers to head the nation’s police force. We equally call upon Ugandans of all walks to join this clarion call from wherever they can; be it in a mass procession on streets of the capital city, Kampala and demand the resignation of the IGP, if it defies a diplomatic and civil procedure of doing it.
We would advise the current IGP to consider joining main stream political activities since, on many platforms he loves describing himself as a political commissar and indeed his priorities suggest the same.
3. RECRUITMENT OF POLICE CADETS
Lastly the current recruitment of police cadets calls for a serious review. After just a 9-months training course, without any prior policing experience, fresh university graduates become star-police officers and are deployed as station heads across the nation. Apart from demoralizing existing long-serving officers with even better academic qualifications; this policy is counter-productive to the general police force performance.
Yet often, the new cadet recruits are political cadres who direct most of the police resources, including the personnel strength in political-related activities. We, therefore, demand that priority for cadet recruitment in the police force must be changed from fresh graduates to long serving officers who possess the necessary academic qualifications. Fresh graduates must only be considered to fill deficiencies in case the number of existing officers is insufficient.
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY.
Thank you.
Swaib Kaggwa Nsereko
PARTY SPOKESMAN, JEEMA.