![]() There was once a time when the free world was a powerful ally in such matters but now it seems it has too many problems of its own to bother with yet another developing country grappling with a leader who will not relinquish his grasp on power. What’s more, via the occasional public videos where he shows his agility through exercise or singing a rap song, even nature and mortality seem to be on his side. Those who yearn for change are resigned to the fact that perhaps nothing can unseat Museveni. To Museveni’s supporters, to vote for Kyagulanyi, a young man with no military skills, would be to risk hard-won peace. The crude message to Uganda and the world is that a vote against Museveni is a vote against peace. Whether it is sending troops to Somalia or quelling an insurgency in Central Africa Republic, he has established himself as eastern Africa’s peacekeeper without whom this part of the continent would combust. Museveni’s peace badge goes beyond national borders. Government sows the message, media and civil society regurgitate it and Ugandans dare not forget their past of strife and who saved them from it. The peace rhetoric is central to every election. His blessing because many Ugandans are tired of the bush men’s leadership and the constant reminders that, without them, Ugandans would not be enjoying the peace ushered in by Museveni’s government. Still, unlike Besigye, Kyagulanyi is not part of the old guard that went “to the bush”. If Besigye, as a former war compatriot and close ally to Museveni, could not win, it is hard to see how Kyagulanyi could have done so. It is used to provide a semblance of justice while upholding the status quo. This is the famous “substantiality test”, effectively tolerating irregularities if they don’t affect the overall outcome, applied across Africa whenever elections are challenged. The judges found that there was rigging, voter intimidation and bribery but that Museveni would still have won the election. Twice he challenged the results in court. The only other person to put up a formidable challenge against Museveni was Kizza Besigye, Museveni’s former doctor who was also part of the four-year bush war that brought Museveni to power. When, like many of Kyagulanyi’s supporters, you have nothing else to lose – when you have been unemployed for years, watched your wife die giving birth unattended on the hospital floor or put your children to bed after all they had to eat all day was porridge – you dare to hope, even when the odds are stacked against you. This did not stop Ugandans from dreaming that Kyagulanyi, a young man from the ghetto, could unseat Museveni, a seasoned military leader who, during the elections, professed to be the best at war and threatened to crush anyone who stood in his way. Then there’s the fact that anyone who dared question the electoral commission’s figures or do independent tallying of results was arrested. It’s beyond doubt that the playing field was never fair – witness the arrests of Kyagulanyi’s closest allies and polling agents, the heavy security deployment and the killing of his supporters. Museveni’s closest rival, 38-year-old musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, insists the election was rigged against him. At the end of this new term, Museveni, who came to power in 1986, will have spent 40 years as president. But most surreal of all is the fact that Uganda is set to hold on to that disturbing record of still having one of Africa’s strongmen – on the political scene since independence in the 1960s – in power. It is strange to have to send an entire column via text message, as I have this one, because you cannot access your email.
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