Celebrating Women's Day amidst the ongoing women murders is a mockery

By Aggrey Nyondwa Kikobera

Exactly a week ago Ugandans woke up to the terrible news of yet another woman gruesomely murdered and dumped in Entebbe. Suzan Magara became another victim just in her early prime to suffer the wrath of the impune and daring cold blooded killers that over 20 women have had to lose their lives to since last year.

Despite the so many clues left behind by the killers, police is yet to come up with a substantive report about the same. For a group that used phone calls to contact the family and dropped recordings to still be at large is a little concerning.

Today marks International Women's Day and it should feel a bit uncomfortable for us as a country to celebrate with the rest of the world the freedom, emancipation and most importantly the security of women with these continued killings.

Today in Mityana where the president is expected to preside over women's day celebrations, jubilations and ululations will be heard as if women in this country were the happiest and most contented in the world. This isn't the case in reality though. It is sad to celebrate when a 28 year old was kidnapped for 20 days, contact made between abductors and family, later on killed and dumped, but still culprits managed to get away!

In a country where a man (as heard in the audio recording) talks to a woman (Suzan's mother I presume) about how her daughter's body will be cut into pieces if the ransom is not delivered, and indeed goes on to cut off her fingers, women's day celebrations should never be heard of.

There is nothing to celebrate but rather a mockery to women's wellbeing. The same man who cut off her fingers and ended her life will today celebrate the public holiday, and perhaps sit home and watch TV enjoying the day off.  This man should be somewhere rotting in jail for the country to have meaningful celebrations. This is why police should really move fast to ensure that all these heartless scambags are apprehended and put where they deserve to be.

The focus should now shift from emancipation and equality to a more concerning life robbing issue-Security! When a woman isn't fully emancipated, she at least has life. If there is no gender equality, there is hope to have it in future, and this hope vanishes when one loses her life.

The campaign should therefore focus on ensuring women security in the country. Women should be equipped with the skills and items efficient for their safety and self-defense. In Ngugi wa Thiongo's Devil on the cross, the character Wariinga was much feared and respected by men due to her judo and karate skills.

These skills protected her a great deal and saved her such life threatening exposures. So perhaps our women should as well be as equipped with such skills as Wariinga had. This would enable them combat these attackers with ease. It is sad for a young woman of 28 to go down without a fight. She would have kicked their butts if she had any judo kicks in her. Other than these physical skills, women should also carry protective sprays and make good use of their high heels.

As the theme this year goes, Press for Progress, we should indeed see some progress than this dragging police investigations. The country has so far lost future activists, leaders and mothers at the hands of a very reckless security system. And as we celebrate today, the gangs that murdered these women are somewhere plotting their next kill. So perhaps this isn't the right time for Uganda to celebrate women's day.

We are not worthy to celebrate, to grant a whole day off work to relax at home and celebrate with women, as if everything was okay. Nothing is! 28 victims, murdered the same way, in two districts in a space of a year is too much. Women deserve better. We should press for progress indeed.

The writer is a social and political critic