Lately, there is increasing hard-heartedness, which is spreading like wildfire in almost all spaces, including on our roads, workspaces and communities. This is akin to the popular Sitya Danger hit by a Ugandan artiste Alien Skin.
Sitya Danger, loosely translated as ‘I don’t fear danger,’ has taken the airwaves by storm. The artiste has been propelled into the limelight because of this hit. It’s a positive for Alien Skin. Now, there is something extremely worrying arising from the ‘Sitya Danger’ mentality – there is a growing disregard of law of the land and lack of respect for others. It is costing us morally but also claiming lives in our communities.
Recently, as I went about my business, driving along Jinja road, I heard a siren behind me that forced me to give way. I imagined it was an ambulance or Police Patrol in a hurry to respond to an emergency. Wapi; I was wrong!
Instead, I saw a Vitz car installed with a loud siren and heavy metallic bull guards front and rear and a fleet of many other vehicles ensuing. It is a common practice on our roads to see such blatant abuse of traffic regulations, where motorists appear from nowhere and abruptly push off those in their lanes. It is worse with boda boda cyclists.
This reminds me of a statement by someone emphasizing that if you drive in Kampala, clearly you can drive anywhere in the world! In my public life as a community worker, I have interacted with many scenarios where members of the public, mostly those we consider elite, try to take advantage and beat standards as well as regulations like constructing in road reserves and utility lines.
If one is lucky, they can get away with it in the short run but eventually they get caught up. The police recently paraded a man for allegedly using a stolen pistol to terrorize residents in the night, yet he masqueraded as a scrap dealer during daylight. While growing up, our parents always warned us against shortcuts in whatever tasks we undertook.
You will find some people whose DNA is wired in such a way that they would never settle and follow order or an organized way. Such people will not find a problem trying to jump the queue even if they found you waiting. There will be some vulnerable situations as we carry on with our routine, but some prefer to play to their advantage even when they have a responsibility to take care of those that are vulnerable.
Without interfering with anyone’s creativity and innovativeness, maneuvering, and trying to be ‘clever’ all the time with everything will only lead us into deep trouble.
Our space of electricity distribution, as Umeme, even when we deal with a dangerous service of electrons, we have not been spared by some individuals who indeed, ‘don’t fear danger’ but have ended up losing life or causing death and injuries to others by illegally connecting to the network.
We have lost lives across the country as a result of illegal connections and individuals hooking onto the network while others run into the illegal hooks unknowingly.
On July 14, 2023, we unfortunately lost 38-year-old Michael Hakim in Iganga who came into contact with an illegal extension wire, which was hanging across a village path. Hakim is one of the 11 lives that we have lost since the beginning of 2023 because of illegal connections on the electricity network.
It is a great drive to be brave as we undertake whatever we do, but never should we lose the ability to sense danger and take precaution on how best to deal with it rather than get engulfed.
The writer is the head of communications & marketing at Umeme Ltd
Source: The Observer
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