The Daunting Challenge of Democratic Transformation in Uganda under Museveni’s NRM Regime

Democracy in Uganda is a Nightmare Under NRM and Museveni

By Malith Alier, Kalgoorlie, Australia

Thursday, January 21, 2021 (PW) — “The 2021 is the most cheating-free election since 1962” Yoweri Museveni. The above quote is inadvertently an admission, on part of the president, that all Ugandan elections from 1962 through to 2016 were marred by cheating and malpractice. What made the 2021 cheating-free as alleged demands farther elaboration from Mr. Museveni and his party, the National Resistance Movement, NRM.

When Museveni went to the bush in 1980 to fight the Ugandan state, he accused the Obote government of stealing the election, held in that year. Five years later, he came to power after a bloody war. He then firmly took charge of the Ugandan state this time for good. Museveni, if he completes his next five years as president, would have run Uganda for 40 years uninterrupted.

The forty-year-old Museveni regime came at a huge cost for Uganda and the region. Museveni is the oldest leader in the region. Many of his counterpartsin the region and worldwide at the time he took charge have since left the scene for new faces. This tells us that the forces of change in Uganda went to sleep forever when the NRA took control. Mr. Museveni had perfected keeping those forces at bay using hook or crook. Crook is what many Ugandans can call Museveni’s rule going forward.

This writer had been watching electoral processes in Ugandan since 2016. Accusations of vote rigging, harassment of opposition, alright violence, media black outs, illegal use of police and army, voter intimidation etc are some of the tactics used to maintain power since 1996. The use of the above seem to be increasingly taking a nasty and ugly turneach time an election is called for. The electoral madness happening in current Uganda is much more than what was taking place at the same time in 1980 when Obote was in charge.

As this unfolds, the regional bodies including theEast African Community, EAC, African Union, AU,and Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, are nowhere to be seen.

The few voices around the globe that dare to question the conduct of the autocratic Ugandan leader are quickly reminded of interference in the internal affairs of the country. The long-term leader seems not to be bothered that Uganda army is in Equatorial Guinea, Somalia, South Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo against the internal affairs of those countries.

The opposition in Uganda before, during and after the fraudulent election, went through hell at the hands of a partisan police force and the army. The main opposition challenger as we speak is under house arrest at his home. Mr. Museveni tells the world one thing but does the other thinking that the world is not watching beyond the curtain. Ugandansat all walks of life seem to be under a spell of the Museveni and NRM regime.

Immediately after taking power in 1986, Museveni instituted what he called the movement system. He effectively ran the country under that system for a period of 10 years, 1986 – 1996. It was a one-party state whereby the movement was still implementing the ten-point agenda it hatched in the bush. The first post war constitution was then promulgated in 1996. This constitution contained safeguards to power abuse in the minds of the drafters. The president was limited to two terms of office of five years each. And then there was a cap on age of the president. The lower of 35 and the upper of 75 years were identified to apply to the would-be presidents.

The above constitutional safeguards were demolished before Ugandans through cunningness of Mr. Museveni. His NRM dominated parliament was the tool used to undo the central pillars of the 1996 constitution. In case parliament was at the deadlock, the army would be called in to force the matters through like in 2017. By 2005, the term limit was expunged. In 2017, the age limit was removed amidst parliament bribery or intimidation or both.

South Sudan electoral officials were seen packing their bags to go and observe the blood-soaked election in their southern neighbour. These officials joined an EAC and IGAD observers who are among the few to get accreditation from that country. The European Union, the US and others never sent observers this time. They were either denied accreditation or pulled out altogether because of the violent environment that has become part of election here. 

Some of these observers claimed that the election was free and fair to the consternation of many Ugandans and the wider neigbourhood. They set the lowest bar to election observation task in the region by declaring this shamble of an election in fairerterms. The head of EAC mission is either ignorant ordid not know the meaning of free and fair election before heading to observe the brazen exercise. 

The perennially combustive leader who is always on the offensive attacked the international media that it was shallow in reporting. The CNN and Aljazeera were singled out by the man who claimed authority on unity of Africa. He claimed to be working on unity of Africa as he brutalized Uganda for the sake of remaining in power.

Uganda is a powerhouse to South Sudan in many ways. It provides direct route to neigbouring Kenya where Mombasa port is located. It hosts millions of refugees displaced by war since 2013. It sent military contingent to assist militarily the government of Salva Kiir in 2014 at the height of rebel offensive against Juba. It is, therefore, no surprise that South Sudan which looks up to Uganda is amongst the first to congratulate Museveni in his latest win. South Sudan government will simply gloss over election conjectures in Uganda because it cannot afford to do otherwise.

The 2021 general election left Uganda in a limbo and at the mercy of the benevolent dictatorship of Kaguta Museveni. No other country will stand to chastise the old man of NRM who openly brags that he sees far than anyone else in his country and beyond. He also boasts of being an expert in war games when the opposition planned demonstration to protest police brutality and shrinking of political space.

Some of targeted means of electoral fraud perfected by Mr. Museveni in collusion with the Election Commission lay bare before everyone who takes part in the elections he organized. Tallying results from unannounced polling sites is the bravest of all. Breaking seals of boxes containing ballot papers, delivering half boxes of polling material, pre-ticking of ballots, voting on behalf of absentees at polling stations e.g. the sick or the dead. One polling station in Museveni’s stronghold, Sembubale District had more ballots cast than registered voters. That was just the tip of iceberg.

Museveni has over the years stretched the limits of democracy for his own benefits. He fought Obote regime ostensibly to restore democracy. The “democracy he restored” has become illusive by the hour as he cements his stranglehold on power. He joined the exclusive club of Africa’s long serving rulers as he’s destined to clock 40 years in power in 2026.

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