According to James Onen commonly known as Fatboy, the biggest crimes in Uganda are committed by politicians, and yet they escape punishment.
His opinion follows the UPDF’s teenage mindset change program in Gulu city, meant to curb the escalating crimes committed by the youths in the region especially teenagers.
The Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF in the Forth Division Army Barracks on Thursday last week launched a one-week seminar at Watoto Church Ministries in Gulu city, to encourage teenagers aged 11 -19 to be proponents of peace and discipline in their communities.
Fatboy wondered whether UPDF was embarking on an activity supposed to be done by the police, whose role is to maintain law and order in the country. Olive convinced him that the army is partaking a corporate social responsibility in the community.
Olive Najjuma pondered whether the UPDF established the cause of the spiraling crime among youths before encouraging them to be ambassadors of peace. “all they are doing is sweep on the surface, but there’s a deeper issue there under,” she said.
According to Fatboy, the awareness campaigns should have started with highly situated people in society like politicians.
“When you delve into the crimes committed by these young people, they could mostly relate to petty crimes and burglaries. But the biggest crimes in Uganda are committed by politicians and other people highly situated in society. So where is their awareness campaign?” He asked.
Sadly, he continued that most big crimes are legally committed which denays an ordinary taxpayer's means of receiving justice.
“They sit, inspect the money in the national treasury and decide where and how much money should be allocated to which sector. Usually, it's up to them to decide what its does, as the taxpayer has no say in the exorbitant salaries paid to Members of Parliament (MPs), or Uganda Airlines employees. To me, that is daylight robbery,” he stated.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, and Sarah every weekday from 6 am to 10 am on RX Radio.