From Goats to Elephants: How Abductions Expose Uganda’s Rotting System

By Alexander Luyima

In Uganda today, fear has replaced justice. A deer once told an elephant, “They are abducting goats up the hill. By the time I explain I’m not a goat, I may already be dead.” At first, the elephant laughed after all, it was big, strong, and unmistakably different. But when the deer kept running, the elephant realized the truth: in a rotten system, no one is safe. Even an elephant can be mistaken for a goat.

This is Uganda now. Ordinary citizens the “deer” are hunted down by the very forces meant to protect them. Abductions, killings, and torture are carried out in broad daylight, sometimes even confessed to, yet no justice follows. The judiciary has become toothless, Parliament silenced, and human life cheapened.

But here lies the tragedy: even the “elephants” institutions, religious leaders, opposition figures, and those who once believed their power or status could shield them have begun to run. Why? Because the system is so broken that innocence, power, or even loyalty no longer guarantees safety.

When the protectors become the predators, a nation collapses into chaos. Today in Uganda, goats, deer, and even elephants run alike not because they are guilty, but because the system has stopped caring to know the difference.

Uganda must ask itself: how long shall we run, and when will we turn to confront the hunters?