This week, the suspected killers of Daniel Bbosa, the former head of the Ndiga clan, known as Lwomwa, were charged with murder at Mwanga II Court in Mengo. The shooting was one of a series of high-profile shootings that have occurred in Uganda.

Gun violence is not a new phenomenon in Uganda, and most of these gun shootings are carried out on boda bodas that easily aid the escape of the shooters and prevent their identification.

It is very bad to generalize that every boda boda person is a criminal, but how can these shootings usually carried out on boda boda be curtailed?

Did the mob in Lungujja save the possibility of a rift between the Buganda Kingdom and the Central Government by identifying the key suspects?

Undoubtedly! There is a possibility that the shooting of Daniel Bbosa, the Ndiga clan head, would have raised eyebrows between Mengo, Buganda, and the government if the residents in the mob had not helped in following up and eventually arresting the key suspects in the shooting. There is a greater possibility that the shooting would have been perceived as a deliberate plan by the state to threaten the establishment in Mengo and the entire Buganda kingdom.

Every time there has been a high-profile shooting in Uganda, the perception in the general public has always been that ‘it is targeted assassination’ either by the state or elements within security agencies.

This perception has been strengthened by laxity in investigations every time the shootings occur, which leads to the non-prosecution of suspects. This is always perceived as shielding the suspects by the state or by the security apparatus. How could this perception be corrected?

More so, every time there has been a shooting, the key suspects aligned before the courts of law on all occasions have always been Moslems because of the possibility of having links to the ADF. Every time someone is shot at, the population is always waiting to see which Moslems will be arrested. Are Moslems the only guns for hiring?

Well, this intelligence thinking has been eroded away by Bbosa’s shooting, since there is no single Moslem among the suspects.

Many high-profile shootings have occurred in Uganda, and citizens ask themselves, “Who is the next target for the shooters?”

It is wrong to always brand these shootings as targeted assassinations, as there are many inter-personal grievances in society that easily lead to gun violence.