How serious are we about Planning?

When I started this blog, I had resolved not to write about the injustice, unfairness and politics of either this country or my home country Uganda. But appropriately named “Snake in a Pot” which is from a Luganda proverb meaning being in a dilemma. I am in a dilemma and find myself going full circle to write this piece about our ever interesting and never short of surprises Uganda police. Just before I left Uganda, I was completely stunned when I heard one of the officers of the force that is supposed to serve and protect, declare that they will arrest all people who jog along roads in Kampala because they cause traffic jams. I was wondering if the officers had too much time and too little to do. However with the newest traffic crisis in Kampala, they definitely have too much to do but too little knowledge of how to go about it. In their quest to show the nation how prepared they are, the good old police men closed some roads and abruptly forced traffic in some obscures side roads that are ostensibly supposed to serve as alternative routes during CHOGM. It is hardly surprising that residents of Kampala found themselves in the traffic chaos that engulfed the city on Wednesday. We all know that if you want to do a mock-exercise in a chaotic city like Kampala, the first thing to do is to inform the public, especially motorists through public media while indicating specific routes for them to use, control measures etc. The “mock-exercise” as police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura called it, was meant to show how people in Kampala can cope with road closures due to the summit but it definitely did not meet the purpose. I think that a mock exercise for Chogm should have been embarked on after full details of alternative routes have been given to the public so that police can asses whether the suggested alternatives can work or not. On that day, I learnt from a friend at Entebbe Airport that his relative had spent the night in jail after they strayed into an area that was initially a public place but which had now been cordoned off in preparation for Chogm. Where people in positions of responsibility cannot plan for just a simple mock exercise and try to figure out proper solutions to the associated problems, it does not surprise me, that someone can decide to cordon off an area without high visibility signs and just expect you to know that you should not be there.