25/6/2014 OPEN LETTER TO ALL SECURITY GUARDS. Dear Ladies and gentlemen, We live in the bad days where the world is faced with many terrorist and other criminal threats more than ever before and fortunately or unfortunately, you are the people at the fore front of preventing the crime. Thus, there is no better way of starting this letter other than appreciating you for the good work you do on the daily basis. Your job requires you to always be proactive and on the watch and so it is because of your sacrifice that many of us are protected. Although a number of you work under poor conditions and are paid pea nuts as salary, you never give up on protecting property and people. Once again, thank you for your great sacrifice and I encourage you to keep moving. That said; permit me to point to you that there are a number of you that don’t know what their actual job is and what they are meant to do. As portrayed in the Ugandan media recently, a number of you are very careless and many people are only guarded by the grace of God. Unless this is checked, we are headed for a disaster. Therefore, below are some of my personal views about what your job entails: First of all, what is Security? According to Wikipedia, Security is the degree of resistance to, or protection from, harm. It applies to any vulnerable and valuable asset, such as a person, dwelling, community, nation, or organization. This means that security guards are supposed to protect property by maintaining a high visibility presence to deter illegal and inappropriate actions, observing (either directly, through patrols, or by watching alarm systems or video cameras) for signs of crime, fire or disorder; then taking action and reporting any incidents to their client and emergency services as appropriate. The Bakiga confirm this by saying, “ABARINDA WAKAME BAZORA AMEISHO” literally meaning that whoever is hunting for a rabbit that is hiding in a hole must keep his or her eyes open. Short of that, the rabbit will escape. Likewise, the number one job of any security guard is to keep his or her eyes, ears, thoughts and all the other senses open. Unfortunately, we live in a country where you will find a security guard busy on the job dosing. Others have apparatus (metal detectors) to check people but they don’t know how to use them. I fail to understand why a security guard stops you at a vehicle check point, just looks through the car, opens the boot, passes his mirror under the car and concludes that you don’t have any dangerous weapon. What if you are seated on it? Others will just come to your wind screen, greet you and ask if you have a weapon. Now, if I have a weapon and have bad intentions, can I report myself that I have one? It is not even a surprise that two yellow piglets were recently smuggled in the Parliament of Uganda, one of the most protected institutions. Many of you just report to work for the sake of working but you don’t do the job you are hired for. You should know that danger doesn’t segregate. In case there is a bomb blast, it will not explode on the rest and leave you just because you are dressed in uniform. Kindly pull up your socks for the protection of your own selves and others. Secondly, I was recently chatting with a neighbor who happens to be the wife of a reverend and she told me that her husband is usually exempted from security checks. That whenever they arrive in public places, security guards usually look at his white collar and allow him to pass claiming that he is good and can`t commit crime. For goodness` sake, how can a trained security guard judge a book by its cover? How do criminals look and how do good people appear? In law, everyone is innocent until he or she is proven guilty but in security, everyone is guilty until he or she is proven innocent. Therefore, there is absolutely no person that is good until you prove so. The Bakiga also confirm this by saying, “AMAZIMA GO MUKIGA NOKWEREBERA” literally meaning that for a Mukiga, the truth can only be confirmed after seeing it with naked eyes. Similarly, you must only and only confirm that somebody is harmless by proving it with your naked eyes. Short of that, Brace yourselves for surprises! Lastly, I have analytically observed that some security guards come to work looking forward to extra earnings through tips. They expect that when they treat people well, they may be rewarded with something on the way out. They will do their best not to inconvenience visitors. Others will even struggle to allocate you parking for the car and forget about checking it. Well, It`s understandable that you earn low income and so have to make ends meet in this expensive economy but you shouldn’t forget that the love of money is the source of all evil. The Bakiga also confirm it by saying, “WABA ORENDA KWIBA GYE, EMBWA OGYIJANIRE AMAGUFA” meaning that if you want to steal with ease, you must come with bones for the guarding dog in order to obstruct it. Therefore, put it in your minds that the money you are always craving for is an obstruction and will one day cause you danger. It is better to earn little and you live to enjoy it than earning much and dying before tasting it even. Focus on the job and genuine tips will come your way. Yours in fear, AD.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:04:26 +0000
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