Don't politicise crime

THE MEDIA is full of stories alleging that partisans are being persecuted. There have been numerous violent attacks on individuals and sets of people in different parts of the country. On Monday, travellers on the Masaka-Mbarara highway were shot at. On Wednesday, another group was assaulted on the same road. That same day, a headmaster in Ndejje was murdered in cold blood. In all three cases, the motives of the assailants are yet to be established. But because the victims were political activists, in the Besigye, Chapaa and Museveni camps respectively, it has been easy to link their misfortunes to political rivalry. Yet the circumstances may suggest otherwise. In Monday's case, travellers with no known political inclination were ambushed at the same spot shortly before the Besigye supporters' group. The headmaster's case too is still under investigation. It is highly probable, as the different circumstances may show, that the assailants in the various cases may have been ordinary criminals. There is quite a lot of violent but not unusual crime like muggings, highway ambushes and burglaries going on all the time. Since very many of us are now politically active, the probability, by sheer coincidence, of being victims is high. We are inflaming passions needlessly by politicising crime. Ends.