Bobi and Barbie Wine with 18-month old niece–surrounded by 500 Museveni troops and running out of food. Photo: Facebook.
[My Free Thoughts]
Today marks a week since member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, presumptive winner of Uganda’s Jan. 14, 2021 presidential election, has been under unconstitutional and unreasonable house arrest on orders of Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa. Also it marks a week since dictator Museveni overthrew the will of the people, undermined democracy and overturned the elections in his favor using guns and violence. Also, it is today that he, Gen. Museveni, has announced to officially leave his village in western Uganda-where he has been hiding after rigging the vote- and drive to Kampala in what he and his supporters coin a triumphant entry into Kampala. The shameless braggarts will lead a procession from the outskirts of Kampala and congregate at the constitutional squire where the curmudgeon will address the world- imagine after stealing votes and putting your opponent under house arrest in fear that he would incite an insurrection.
It is very embarrassing and discombobulating for one to put the whole country on gunpoint and rig the votes and later chest thumbs that he has won an election democratically. Lest we forget, democracy has four key elements, that is: a system of choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections; active participation of the people as citizens in politics and civic life; protection of human rights of all citizens and finally, rule of law! Absence of these in any election makes the whole process skullduggery and a monkey business cum election.
If we succinctly explained the above four elements in relation to what has been happening in Uganda ever since Museveni Tibuhaburwa began alleging that he has been winning elections democratically; we will, without difficulty understand how he has been organizing sham and fraudulent elections.
First of all, the ingredients for the rule of law elucidated can whittle down the pretense and foolish talk that Gen. Yoweri Museveni has ever been democratically elected since 1996. For the rule of law to prevail, citizens shouldn’t be discriminated against, there must be no arbitrary rules or taking law into one’s hands, there must be equal application of the law and citizens must enjoy inherent rights without undue limitation by the state. So what has Gen. Museveni done right in relation to the above that he claims that he has been democratically elected to steer the country to the right direction? Rule of the gun and threats can never be democracy, there is no way one can win the will of the people fairly when every ingredient of what entails in a democracy is nipped in the head in order for one egoistic man to rule the country as long as he lives.
Absence of democracy in any electoral process should be reason enough for the superpowers who sponsor dictators to lodge economic embargoes against abusers of democracy in Africa. Fortunately in the case of Museveni’s latest charade, Tibor Nagy, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa has called it “fundamentally flawed.”
It should be a reason enough for courts of law to overturn the election. These African dictators abuse democracy which should be a common value for cooperation with other countries and then after moving around the world with begging bowls seeking to finance their egoistic amour propre.
Columnist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is the author of “The Greedy Barbarian,” and “Banana Republic, Where Writing Is Treasonous.” He can be reached via [email protected]
