When ‘thugs’ become the go to for security

You know the adage, “send a thief to catch a thief? “Well, it’s true. Or at least that’s what I have experienced.

With COVID 19 numbers going down, the economy was reopened. We promised to have a mother of all shows once the president opens.

True to our word, once the president said, “and therefore, the night economy is open”, we threw a mega bash dubbed “Therefore, Etteta”. Massive it was, save for one thing, the security situation.

Hungry from years of no events, a few ghetto youths stormed the event, stealing phones and beating people. Efforts to reinforce with more police personnel helped but didn’t stop the petty or small thugs.

These small-in-size boys, clearly in their teens, were no match for the muscular Kanyamas. The Kanyamas feared them, too. With their bare hands, they feared no one.

In Comes the Security by knuckle

Following the event, we sat and did a post-mortem of the event and indeed the anxiety by these small boys was the main issue. We called our contacts and learnt that the bad or small guys were actually organised and if we talked to them, they would handle their people and the event would be safe.

I called up my brother Julius Kyazze of Swangz Avenue and we met. He had an event, ‘Roast and Rhyme’ to be held at Jahazi Pier. I told him what had happened to us and what I had been advised would be the way to go. We had to use the thugs to catch their own thugs.

When I went to the ‘Roast And Rhyme’ show at Jahazi Pier, the same venue we had ‘Therefore Etetta’ show, I was surprised to find non-combatants manning most of the security points.

They were known as Security by Knuckle. Dressed in clean, tidy and well-dressed uniform T-shirts, they looked well-coordinated and organised. They hawkishly moved about, identifying potential thugs and dealing with them, their way.

In the end, I called Julius about the situation and he thankfully confirmed, not even a handkerchief had been stolen.

Today morning, I had a meeting with their leaders headed by former Firebase Crew chief and now Presidential adviser on Ghettos, Butcherman. After a long chat, I realised they know what they are doing.

So for our next event, the Zzina Carnival on EID Day, we will have police, yes but, we will also have a full deployment by the Security by Knuckle.

Going by how the other events they have handled have turned out, including the NBS TV Uncut show at Uganda Museum over Easter, ‘Roast and Rhyme’, Tuff B’s show at Jahazi Pier and among others, I am not worried about thugs anymore.