President Museveni of Uganda Rode the Bloody Horse Far Too Long
Malith Alier Deng, South Sudanese Australian Political Analyst and Cultural Critic
By Malith Alier, Kalgoorlie, Australia
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 (PW) — What does one do if their neighbour is a quarrelsome, cantankerous, and suicidal Curmudgeon? We, or humanity, is/are happy that we are in 2022. The zeitgeist of the past years will either be left behind or seamlessly sieved into the new year. Please make no mistake, some people or countries will move their old wineskins to the new year.
Uganda, the southernmost neighbour to South Sudan, is ready to roll ahead with political quarrels of the past 30 odd years. Sudan, the northernmost neighbour, is simmering in military coups and social upheavals.
Sudan and Uganda have a lot in common: both countries had been ruled by military dictators for 30 years or more. Both countries project democratic credentials on the surface but are indeed autocratic below the surface. The two countries are fed by River Nile as a natural lifeline.
Although Sudan has violently shaken off the strongman syndrome of president Bashir, in 2019, it is still trying to make do of the considerable damage wrought by his 30 years of dictatorship and misrule. Audaciously, the military in Sudan is determined to remain in charge after Bashir in every aspect but name. only last week the civilian Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, resigned after months of further bloodshed.
Uganda on the other hand still holds tightly onto its strongman belligerence at gunpoint. Museveni through his NRM medium has power entered his head permanently. In January 2021, the Pearl of Africa as the country was fondly referred to by Winston Churchill, held an increasingly bloody election in sequence.
Over 54 citizens, according to reports, had their dear lives cut short because of fleeting political power. The incumbent minister of the Interior justified the killings by security officers as their “right to shoot” unarmed civilians for no reason other than to express political ideology. The November 18-19, 2021 violent incident shook the country to the core. In the end, the strongman won!
Violence in Uganda’s elections set in after the 2006 elections. The subsequent pattern of political temperature increases as Museveni gradually loses support from the masses who are inherently the source of political power.
Elections are held every five years according to the constitution. During the sanctioned five-year tenure, Museveni, through his malleable and gullible party comes up with new waves of amendments to the country’s constitution. The Presidential term limit was embedded in the constitution to make sure that whatever the country went through in past years was never repeated. Additional safeguards like the age limit were added to foolproof the constitutional document after the NRM took power in 1986.
President Museveni in his guerrilla-style, however, moved stealthily to dismantle bit by bit all the safeguards he helped put in the constitution. He mastered to go, rogue, if strong resistance is exhibited by the country’s parliamentary opposition. First, he can begin with his party. In case the party line won’t succeed, the army will intervene to gorily clobber the opposition into line.
After 36 years in power, 1986 – 2022, this nation is now unrecognisable from Obote’s or Amin’s Uganda of the 1960s and 1970s. The country has moved to square number one, thanks to deceitful Musevenism! The military has taken centre stage. Political dissent is literally outlawed but in the name. Numberless abduction vehicles are busy abducting suspected opposition activists, day and night with impunity. The judiciary is captured by Museveni and the court orders are not enforceable.
Museveni has gone back full circle on the ideals for freedom he once fought for. The 1981 – 1986 bush war was waged for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. When his NRA captured power, Museveni declared that: the problem of Africa in general and Uganda, in particular, was leaders who tend to cling to power.
Museveni is the greatest clinger to the power of all African leaders!
Happy New Year!
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