Uganda's presidential elections were over a week ago (February 18) and I apologize for taking this long to express my opinion; I blame the tests and trials of moving. Museveni garnered over 68% of the vote, winning a fourth term and surprising no one. Despite claims of irregularity (voting materials arriving late at some locations, security personnel seen as intimidating at others) there was relatively little violence (less than one hundred people were arrested for fighting and bringing weapons to polling stations)the vote is widely held as valid and M7 will lead Ugandans through 2016 and undoubtedly bring Ugandan politics to a new level of corruption.
M7's practice of dirty politicking is not a secret:all Ugandans know that he pays off MPs in order to have Parliamentary votes swing in his favor; that he uses government funds for private purposes (such as this most recent election campaign); and, though he claims to work for and understand the poor rural masses, M7 actively retains money in the urban centers, making Uganda's poor poorer. But he stills gets votes because on one side you have people who align themselves with the M7 and the NRM, thus hoping to benefit from the spoils, and the other side you have those who become apathetic and no longer believe it is worth it to try and vote Museveni out of office. He will leave when he leaves, so why not just wait?
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for M7) there are other countries who currently demand our attention: Cote d'Ivoire, Libya, Bahrain, and now Oman (not to mention continued attention being paid to Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.) Additional thoughts on Ugandan corruption will have to wait.
M7's practice of dirty politicking is not a secret:all Ugandans know that he pays off MPs in order to have Parliamentary votes swing in his favor; that he uses government funds for private purposes (such as this most recent election campaign); and, though he claims to work for and understand the poor rural masses, M7 actively retains money in the urban centers, making Uganda's poor poorer. But he stills gets votes because on one side you have people who align themselves with the M7 and the NRM, thus hoping to benefit from the spoils, and the other side you have those who become apathetic and no longer believe it is worth it to try and vote Museveni out of office. He will leave when he leaves, so why not just wait?
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for M7) there are other countries who currently demand our attention: Cote d'Ivoire, Libya, Bahrain, and now Oman (not to mention continued attention being paid to Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.) Additional thoughts on Ugandan corruption will have to wait.
