Elections billboards for Uganda s President Yoweri Museveni, and opposition leader and presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, are seen on a street in Kampala, Uganda January 12, 2021 [Baz Ratner/Reuters]
In Uganda, history is once again repeating itself – a strongman is stubbornly and violently clinging to power in the face of growing demands for a peaceful transition, and shamelessly warning the nation that his exit would bring nothing but chaos and bloodshed.
Indeed, Uganda’s January 14 presidential election, which saw incumbent
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni re-elected, was an election held at gunpoint in the cover of darkness.
Days before the polls, Museveni not only ordered a full shutdown of the country’s internet but also demonstrated the military might of his dictatorial regime by filling Kampala’s streets with tanks and skies with helicopters. His message to the voters was clear: “it is either me, or war”.
While the opposition leader Bobi Wine is under house arrest, analysts say Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni must make concessions to those who voted against him. Courtesy: UN Photo/Amanda Voisard
KAMPALA, Jan 18 2021 (IPS) - Thirty-five years ago when President Yoweri Museveni talked, a majority of citizens listened. But now, as he approaches almost four decades in power, his message is not resonating well particularly with the country’s youth who constitute about 70 percent of the voting population in Uganda.
On Saturday the Electoral Commission of Uganda declared the incumbent president winner of the vote. While the opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, remains under house arrest it is unclear how and when he will dispute the election results, as he’s vowed to do. But one thing is clear as analysts say Museveni must make concessions to those who voted against him.
The East African
Monday January 18 2021
Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, talks on the phone after talking to members of the media at one of his the gates of his home in Magere, Uganda, on January 15, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
Summary
Wine s allegations come after the Electoral Commission of Uganda declared Saturday that long-serving President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had won another five-year term in office.
On Friday, after he tweeted that the military had taken control of his home, the army and police dismissed the claims, saying he had not been arrested and that they were merely protecting him.
Ugandan President Secures Sixth Term in Disputed Election Bloomberg 1/17/2021
(Bloomberg)
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni coasted to victory in elections that were marred by a clampdown on opposition campaigning, extending his 35-year rule.
Museveni won 58.6% of votes cast on Jan. 14, according to results released on Saturday by the Electoral Commission of Uganda on state television. Pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 38, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi and presented himself as a youthful alternative to the 76-year-old president, secured 34.8%.
Africa’s biggest-coffee exporter, Uganda is due to begin exporting oil starting in 2024, and Museveni’s victory will clear the way for him to press ahead with about $20 billion of associated projects, including a crude pipeline and refinery. There’s a risk that implementation could be hindered by civil unrest should the opposition mobilize to try and overturn the election outcome.