Peace and freedom are priceless, we should jealously guard them

Last week, security forces arrested a one Mukasa Andrew ( Bajjo) on the premise of what he posted on social media, lambasting government and warning it of its eventual fall before 2021 at the hands of Bajjo and his group, he even warned soldiers to be ready of what was coming to their boss and how they will eventually be happy since their salaries and welfare will improve after the fall of the current government.

He was also categorical about his soberness, insisting he wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol (though this is disputable). He went ahead to affirm that he wasn’t worried about anything happening to him and that he was not alone, but had supporters within and without.

I have heard a chance, just like others have, to watch and listen to his maiden speech on that video that he circulated on social media. This is not the first of its kind, we have also seen many videos circulating on social media that are a total abuse of the freedoms we have, many of these inciting violence against the government or fellow citizens. Many of such have a lot of tribal/ethnic connotations and if not carefully handled we may live to regret, and some of our people simply cheer on in support of such madness but rest assured violence has no color, tribe or religion, we may decide to live or perish together the decision is ours.

The security forces should not look on, they need to up their game and deter many who may want to be like Bajjo, one mysterious TVO is enough. So, Bajjo should be an example to the rest, that such won’t be accepted, you can’t promote such violence in a peaceful community without accounting for it.

Of course as usual lawyers and the so-called rights activists are up in arms condemning the government for arresting him – a mere event promoter, they are not interested in the potential results of his utterances, but making a killing in legal fees and making a statement for the public and also showing how they are working.

I am not so sure if there is any country under the sun that can tolerate such videos that incite violence.

Yes, we may have freedom of speech and rights to say whatever we want, but all these come with responsibilities and Ugandans must know that the freedom and peace we have were bought with a high price and spilling of blood, therefore, we MUST guard it with all we have.

We have seen countries like Libya, Algeria go up in flames as a result of such videos on social media and we can’t wait for such to happen and our achievements are only read in history books.

It’s our responsibility as responsible citizens to guard against anything that may drive us in that direction. We also need to learn to let government and its institutions do their work of investigations without our interferences as it is lately — whereby each and every one of us has become an expert of a sort in every matter.

Those who want to destabilize our country need to think twice, Uganda belongs to all of us and not a few Bajjos and his ilk.

Many countries wish they had thought twice, before embarking on a journey they took, we shouldn’t put ourselves in their category, responsible institutions should not relent in dealing with people especially those who have amassed wealth because of the conducive environment and freedoms that they are now bent on abusing, if they feel they are tired of the prevailing peace, they can as well shift base, it’s their right, but they have no right destabilizing our country.

For God and the Great Pearl

Paddy Kayondo