Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Museveni must go!

Ssebo | 10.02.2011 19:16 | Repression | Social Struggles | World

The momentum for change in North Africa must extend to sub-Saharan Africa.

Museveni must go! And all the rest!

As the world watches events unfold in Egypt, the fates of other autocratic leaders in sub-Saharan Africa seem to have been relegated to fourth page news. However, it is worth considering the similarities and differences, particularly for Uganda where the incumbent President of 25 years will face re-election on Friday 18th February.

Museveni, and his National Resistance Army, came to power in 1986. Although his efforts to restore stability to a country that had been ravaged by years of chaos and civil war may deserve credit, his claim to be the only force that can maintain stability deserves questioning. It was not until 1996 that Uganda was given a constitution and presidential elections were held in 2001 and 2006, both of which Museveni won, though with increasing allegations and evidence of vote rigging and intimidation of opponents. His National Resistance Movement (NRM) ran Uganda as a one-party state until a referendum which brought back multi-party politics in 2005. Museveni is seeking re-election next week after having scrapped the limits on the number of terms a President can serve.

Clearly there are differences with Egypt, however, in one respect, Museveni has played a similar role to Mubarak which is protecting Western, and specifically US interests. He has allowed the US military a solid base in East Africa, pursued with vigour the ‘war on terror’ by sending Ugandan troops to Somalia as part of the African Union mission and pursued free market policies opening the door to the multinationals. Within Uganda his economic policies have produced a wealthy urban elite that kowtows to his beck and call (even the Hip Hop Artists sing his praises) whilst the gap between this elite and the majority of Ugandans widens. Poverty is endemic to Uganda, as is corruption.

In the run up to next week’s elections an emergency budget was passed giving vast sums to State House (to spend on Museveni’s re-election campaign) and to bribe NRM MPs, who were given the equivalent of $9000 each (Uganda’s GNI per capita is $460), not to stand as independents. The other main recipients were the Army and the Police Force. Three weeks ago a convoy of fifteen new riot control vehicles from China trundled into the capital Kampala. The Police have also stocked up on tear gas and employed raw recruits to ‘maintain order’ in the run up and after the election. Unlike the Kiboko squad, stick wielding thugs who the Police have previously used to beat up Museveni’s political opponents, these youngsters, lacking employment opportunities but filled with nationalistic fervour and fear of chaos that change would bring, are armed with guns. Unlike in Egypt, the Army (the Ugandan People’s Defence Force) is partisan towards Museveni and have already stated their commitment to maintaining the status quo. However, Museveni’s hold on power is more subtle than the exercise of direct force.

Museveni has built up an elaborate system of patronage that buys the support of the elites. Government positions and contracts are fodder for those jostling to get their snouts in the trough. So-called ‘democracy’ exists to a certain extent. There are seven other candidates for the Presidency and Uganda, in both the towns and rural areas, is awash in election posters. Political parties and trade unions are allowed to exist once their criteria have been rigorously assessed by the government. However, the opposition is divided along many fault lines so attempts at a united front have proved ineffective. The main opposition candidate, Besigye, has not yet been arrested on trumped up charges as he was in 2005, however, with an Electoral Commission in place whose impartiality has been questioned on numerous occasions, his optimism towards the outcome must be limited. Political debate carries on but any form of political protest is suppressed. Activists criticising the bribe to MPs by handing out leaflets were quickly arrested last Saturday, the women’s group calling for change was beaten into submission last year, and words out of place will have you arrested for insulting or embarrassing the office of the Presidency. Moreover, for many people, there is an obvious fear of change and instability which, considering Uganda’s history is understandable, but how does it match up with problems that working class Ugandans face now.

The majority of the population of Uganda are young people. The majority of them are poor, uneducated and unemployed or reliant on precarious employment. However, one achievement of Museveni has been to invest in education, at a primary level and increasingly at secondary. Each year a range of universities turn out graduates, many of whom are unable to find employment. Most of those that do find good jobs make up the comfortable or wealthy politically idle youth category, who you will see in Kampala’s bars and nightclubs. But increasingly the majority of these graduates will find themselves excluded from access to employment and Museveni’s and the NRM’s patrimony. In this respect, parallels may be made with Ben Ali of Tunisia. His educational and economic policies (high expectations and then constant struggle to get by) eventually produced young people willing to take their grievances on to the streets. Hopefully, this will happen in Uganda, but probably not for a couple of years when the corruption and stink of Museveni’s fourth term becomes too much and the rise in food prices at the behest of global capitalism drives more people into a hand to mouth existence.

At the moment people here have not crossed the fear barrier, as they did in Egypt on January 25th. Rumours abound that on election-day, 18th February, and for several days following, Internet and mobile phone services will be down. Both protestors and autocrats are learning from the events unfolding. In Uganda people have not yet realised that their differences, religious and tribal, are less than what they have in common. However, this common experience of being marginalised while the corporate and political elite exercise domination over them is more important. It will not be long before a majority speak out and tell Museveni to go, and his son who he is grooming for the Presidency, and the rest of the parasites.

Ssebo

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech