The language autocratic dictators like Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and many others understand, is an engagement in a massive non-violent popular uprising like the one that took Omar Hassan Al-Bashir out of power and total revolutionary process of struggle; not pseudo-democratic process they always rigged and manipulated.
The focus of this article, is to denote the type of the transitional process, dictators like Yoweri Museveni understand and force them out from power they invest in for many years.
On Thursday January 14, 2021, Uganda had conducted a general election, where a good number of contesters wished to unseat President Yoweri Museveni who has ruled Uganda since 1986.
Among the contesters was the main opposition Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known by his music stage name Bobi Wine. Bobi ran an improbable campaign where himself and his supporters were daily harassed.
After a violence contest that took numerous precious lives, Ugandan election commission officials count ballots. At first, Bobi lead in polls.When polls were closed at polling stations in Kampala, the nation’s electoral commission announced on Saturday January 16, 2021 that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has won a sixth term in office with 58% of the vote count versus 34% for Wine.
Mr. Wine was hoping to replace President Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-tenured dictator who had butchered Ugandan opposition leaders and their supporters for years.
The like of 1. Cameroon president, Paul Biya. 2. Equatorial Guinea president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema. 3. Congo Brazzaville president, Denis Sassou. 4 Chadian president, Idriss Deby. 5. Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki 6. And Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan in the dark continent. Most of these modern dictators fake democratic elections which they rigged and manipulated afterward.
The reason they allow elections to take place is to blindfold the world that their being in power for too long is not their wish. They stay that long because their citizens wanted them to remain in power. However, in their gut, they hold a delusional view that, they are the only competence characters who are keeping their nations from falling apart and defending the nation against external or internal threats, while in actual fact, they are terrorizing their citizens.
Their tenure in power has nothing to do with citizens consensus of keeping them in power, they survive political rivaling because of their use of force or falsification ideology to convince the public that they are competent to govern and provide services.
Museveni himself had over qualified in using those trickery tactics. He is not only terrorizing Ugandans, he also contributed to destruction of other countries such as Burundi, Somalia and South Sudan; just to mention only a few. Part of his strategy to involve in other nations’ affairs, is to execute Western nations interest.
He has been Western agent who blackmail individuals who are deemed as bad boys in the continent. Museveni responded to Wine’s election challenge by ordering a crackdown that has included numerous detentions of Wine’s campaign staff.
Military had killed his driver and his home was raided. Wine himself has been arrested numerous times and his detention spark large protests which later resulted in the death of dozen people among his supporters.
In 2016 election, similar crackdown on opposition supporters was nonstop. The opposition candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye was multiple times arrested. The harassment of opposition figures and the shutdown of social media such as Facebook and Twitter on election day is Museveni strategy to block the scene of his regime brutality.
The crackdown on opposition leaders and the censorship of media outlets are the clear indication that Uganda is slowly sinking into lawlessness State. At least oppositions remorse from challenging this notorious systematical killer. The opposition primary focus at the moment would be to build structures at the grassroots level.
They remain for only two options. Option of popular nonviolent uprising or taking up the army and deal with Mr.
Museveni the way he had dealt with previous autocratic dictators in Uganda. The third option is, let him remain there until the super-being time limitation has arrived. Pseudo democratic process will never remove him from power.
Respectively Lul Gatkuoth Gatluak. The author can be reach at lulgatluak09@gmail.com or lgatluak01@hamline.edu
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