What started as a felony of pickpockets on the streets of Kampala in the 90’s by mostly grown up street boys who had taken it as a trade to snatch, necklaces watches, bags and with the advent of mobiles phones, the sought for items by snatchers added smart phones on their list.
During the reign of Kale Kayihura as Inspector General of Police, these street boys metamorphosed into an organized criminal gang that Kayihura named Kifeesi.
In what surprised many citizens, during the Queen’s CHOGM meeting in 2007, her laptop was stolen and Kayihura who apparently seemed to have known the destination of movable property snatched, reached out to one of the Kifeesi fellows who gave him just only an hour and the Queen’s laptop was returned. This was because, according to Kayihura, was going to be an indelible embarrassment to the country!
It’s regrettable that people have started dealing with suspected robbers in the most despicable manner. As seen in this video gun weilding robbers who included women, way laid a motorist, put him at gun point and forced him out of his car. He moved out but had an auto spare key on him which he applied to jam and stall the car as he pursued them on a boda boda. When the car stalled and people gathered in numbers that could subdue the robbers, the victim opened the car, thus surrendering the robbers to all mischief you are viewing in the video clips.
The vice kept on escalating to the unpredented levels where at least out of each 10 Kampala dwellers, 9 have suffered at the hands of Kifeesi snatchers.
To the chagrin of many a citizen, high ranking citizens who have fallen prey to these thugs, just like what happened in the incident of the Queen’s laptop, on reporting to police, their items, have most often been recovered. It is thus believed that Kampala thugs work in conjunction with police.!
Kifeesi Have Now Turned Into Murderous Criminals.
On September 30, a city female lawyer Susan Olweny 36, a resident of Namugongo Kira Municipality, was way laid by these criminals as she was going to buy some home supplies from a supermarket, hit on the head using a paver and robbed of her money and smart phone. She was later pronounced dead at a nearest clinic where she was rushed for treatment!.
Apart from the past city murders of what seemed to be politically inclined deaths, of Justice Kagezi, Abiriga, Kirumira, Kaweesi and General Katumba Wamala’s daughter whose reports have never been made public, despite the president’s assurance of identifying the criminal “pigs”, the current murders of ordinary citizens seem to have gone out of hand.
Fraud Cases Cropping Up Day By Day. Electoral Commission In The Fray
Media reports of fraud ranging from cyber fraud to SACCO saving schemes and foreign job placements are reported on a daily basis.
Just this week the minister for presidency Mutuzo, rescued over 300 youth both male and female from some organised fraudsters who moved from Fort Portal to Masaka Nyendo where they established their centre from where they based to solicit for money from desperate parents supposedly meant to secure jobs for their children out of Uganda. Desperate parents especially in Eastern Uganda from Busoga and Mbale were lured to sell their domestic animals in order to raise the minimum 700,000/= required for each person.
Citizens have now taken the law in their hands by stripping suspected robbers naked, molesting and torturing them
Uganda’s Electoral Commission came in recently to burst the racket of scammer fraudsters who designed an ad and placed it on social media in the name of Uganda Independent Electoral Commission seeking for unemployed youth to apply by depositing some money and wait placement country wide.
Warning About Fictitious Job Vacancy Announcements
The Electoral Commission has noted a fictitious vacancy announcement circulating on various social media platforms calling for applications to fill positions within its structure on temporary basis (ad-hoc staff).
The Commission would like to inform and warn the general public that this is a fake job announcement designed and placed by fraudulent persons with the intention of misleading and extorting money from unsuspecting members of the public.
Please do not fall victim to these fraudsters by responding to the above fake announcement and providing your sensitive identification details.
Please note that the recruitment of temporary election officials is done in a transparent process, where such vacant positions are announced in mainstream media channels and the official EC website: www.ec.or.ug; Twitter (@UgandaEC); Facebook (Electoral Commission Uganda), as well as official notices on public boards at our Electoral Commission offices in each city/district.
The Electoral Commission advises any member of the public, who receives such an offer for a job with the Commission in a manner contrary to the above, to report the matter to the nearest Police Station.
The public is further advised to always verify offers of employment with their respective City/District Electoral Commission office or the Electoral Commission Head Office located on Plot 55 Jinja Road, Kampala; or to verify by calling the following numbers: 0414 337500 or 0312 262208/9/10/11; or to verify such offers through our official social media platforms (above).
The statement issued by the Secretary to Electoral Commission Mulekwah R. J. Leonard read in full.
It’s thus of urgent need that government raises to its feet to protect its citizens as stipulated by the constitution.