Museveni’s contentious sixth term
Seventy-six-year-old Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for four decades, won a controversial presidential election; a re-election tainted with allegations of fraud, intimidation, deaths and detention of opposition supporters. With his re-election on January 16, 2021, Museveni, who came to power after winning a guerilla warfare in 1986, shall hold sway in Uganda until 2026, […]
Seventy-six-year-old Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for four decades, won a controversial presidential election; a re-election tainted with allegations of fraud, intimidation, deaths and detention of opposition supporters. With his re-election on January 16, 2021, Museveni, who came to power after winning a guerilla warfare in 1986, shall hold sway in Uganda until 2026, when he would have clocked 81 years of age. It is not clear if the amended Ugandan constitution would stop him from contesting for another five-year term at the expiration of this sixth term.
The presidential election result announced by Uganda’s Electoral Commission said incumbent Museveni got 58.64 per cent of the vote, while his closest challenger and singer, 38-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, won 34.83 per cent of the vote. The Electoral Commission Chairman, Simon Byakabama said Museveni polled 5.85 million votes, as against Wine’s 3.475 million votes. However, the credibility of the results is in doubt. It has not been clearly corroborated by independent election monitors, and Bobi Wine has said the results were doctored in favour of Museveni.
In 1986 when he came to power in a guerrilla warfare, Museveni was widely hailed for liberating the country from rebels and bringing about a measure of stability. Uganda was to witness economic growth over a period, and its response to HIV/AIDS pandemic was praised as one of the continent’s effective approaches. Perhaps, it was for this reason that older Ugandans who may be haunted by the memories of the catastrophe and violence in the 1970s supported his re-election against the 78 per cent of the population that is below the age of 30. Today, Uganda is plagued by massive youth unemployment and its attendant frustrations, as those who are well-off survive on political patronage, corruption and mismanagement made possible by ineffective government.
Looking at the shadow of terrorism around Uganda, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Rwanda, Museveni believes only he is in a position to protect Uganda. With this thinking, he has slid into the errors of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Libya’s Muammar Ghaddafi, Iraqi’s Saddam Hussein and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, who overstayed their welcome in power, and made heroes of those who fought them out of the exalted seat. Though Museveni is protected by state security forces, the opposition is real and could overwhelm the weapons of Ugandan police and military.
Museveni’s re-election on January 16 was marred by the death of at least 54 persons who were killed by police bullets in a crackdown on opposition supporters. In the brutality in December 2020, Bobi Wine’s bodyguard was run down and crushed by an army truck. Many other opposition supporters are said to have been hurled into prison in an attempt to provide Museveni a thoroughfare in the election. During the election, officials barred many foreign election observers and refused to accredit foreign media outlets. The Ugandan Government also shut down the Internet, making it impossible for the opposition and journalists to effectively monitor the election and share evidence of fraud. Security agents prevented Bobi Wine from moving out of his house and barred his supporters from visiting him at home. From all indications, the process of Museveni’s re-election was not free and fair.
Bobi Wine’s National Unity Party (NUP) has said it would challenge Museveni’s victory in the court of law. We support the use of legal instruments in dealing with the suspected illegalities and call on the opposition to resist any temptation to take the law into their hands. Also, we call for the release of all opposition supporters from police detention or prison. If any of them has committed any offence, he/she should be tried in an appropriate court of law, instead of being arbitrarily punished because of political affiliation. It is also important for governments and international actors to put pressure on Museveni to halt the persecution of the opposition and give Ugandan courts the free hand to deal with post-election cases. Instead of attacking opposition elements, Museveni and other African leaders, should resist the temptation to perpetuate themselves in office, and learn the right lessons from their unpopularity.