Col Kayanja needs co-operation, not condemnation, about murderous robbers in the city

SIR— The Justice Commission recently protested Col Elly Kayanja’s shooting of killer robbers on sight. However, I support Kayanja for the following reasons: In April 2001, my wife Rose Rugazora was shot at by thugs who had trailed her. She didn’t die. She rang me and I in turn called my neighbour Maj Nuwagaba. From a distance, we could see Rose’s car with the doors open and the lights fully on. Luckily, she was safe at another neighbour’s house but bleeding profusely.I started a vigorous search for the murderers. I started with a search for the vehicle that had trailed Rose, described to me by onlookers. With help of a police detective, we identified the car, a mark II number UAA 313S two weeks later. URA records showed that the car belonged to one Magezi. But Magezi had sold the car to Patrick Kiwalabye, who had been arrested by security personnel. When I went to the security personnel, I was informed that the occupants of the car at the time of the shooting had been arrested, but I later learnt that this was not true. They brought me a passport-size photo of a one Najoro, a notorious robber and murderer. With the help of the police in Bushenyi, we apprehended Najoro, who confessed to having killed a policeman who was escorting money for Hydery Forex Bureau but denied shooting at my wife. He was later sent to Luzira.To my surprise, Najoro was killed in a police shoot-out with robbers in Buganda Road last June. So how did he get out of jail only after six months? What can the security organisations do when a man who is committed to the courts is released unscrupulously? I disagree with those condemning Kayanja because they do not understand the grief that people who have lost loved ones to such robbers go through. I call on all sensible Ugandans to rally behind Kayanja, because he is restoring sanity and peace in the city and he needs co-operation, not condemnation.Isingoma Kakiiza Kampala