What are we going to do about the rampant cases of theft around us? Leaving a popular shopping mall in Naalya at the weekend, I was astonished to see two men struggling to open the doors of one of the cars.
The driver, a woman, tried to scream for help. The merciless goons cared less about the baby she was carrying with her in the car. Fortunately, another car attempted to overtake from the wrong side, which scared the ruthless men and saved the day.
It all seemed like a scene from a movie. In another incident, I watched policemen shoot at a car that had attempted to kidnap a Sudanese national. It was just so ridiculous!
Today, thieves have the confidence of a lion attacking its prey. What is happening? No wonder most people are establishing self-defense mechanisms such as buying pepper spray just to keep secure when the going gets tough.
We need to devise means to keep secure and ensure that this insanity stops. We cannot continue existing in these uncalled for movie-like scenes.
I hope the authorities are doing something about this madness because living on tenterhooks is also not an easy journey.
In another scenario in Bweyogerere, a woman’s throat was almost slit by thieves who wanted to snatch her handbag on her way from a nearby Bank. One cannot help but wonder if theft is a new form of self-employment that people have to create gangs, draw plans and traumatise everyone around the country.
Imagine driving like a mad person to reach home only to be haunted by the looming reality of losing life or property to the hands of crazy thieves trying to earn a living through all the wrong ways. No wonder some people like Qute Kaye figured that stealing a side mirror can be the easiest way to solve some problems here and there.
This is what happens when certain things start to seem normal. It is wrong to steal from people. It is wrong to sentence free spirits to such trauma. It is just wrong and we hope that the law can catch up with these vices in society before it becomes the new “normal” way of earning a living; God forbid!
