Rigging a Rigged Election!! : Situating the intricacies of defeating a neo-liberal Icon in the 2011 Ugandan General Election
By: Kizito Michael George
After successfully manipulating parliament to remove the terms limits in the 1995 Uganda constitution, Yoweri Museveni has stood for the ‘4th term’ in the February, 2011 general elections. Like before, he continues to ride on the privileges and politics of incumbency. President Museveni planned for his victory decades ago, by vehemently demonizing political parties using the ruse that if political parties were allowed to return to Uganda, they would a recipe for chaos and disaster. Riding on the fallacy that the no party movement was an all inclusive broad base(of course one party system in practice), Museveni used the broad base utopia to consolidate power at the grassroots. In fact apparently, the NRMO is the only political party in Uganda with substantive grassroots party structures, thanks to the movement politics of syndicalism and benevolent dictatorship.
Museveni also used the broad base utopia to infiltrate all institutions that matter in a democracy for instance, the parliament, Electoral commission, Uganda human rights commission, Inspectorate of Government, Army, Police, Directorate of ethics and integrity etc. Institutions like the EC and UHRC are superimposed by the presidential powers of appointment and re-appointment and therefore are not impartial. He is also doing everything possible to hijack the judiciary. A popular Ugandan comedian Paddy Bitama, tried to stand as a presidential candidate in the 2011 general election without success. Although, the press and many members of the public were of the view that Paddy was simply unleashing his comedian antics, the comedian has given Ugandans a subtle message that the 2011 general election just like the previous ones is mere gimmick because one of the players owns the referee and all the liners. A look at the print and electronic media reveals that the fourth estate in Uganda is greatly censoring itself as regards, reporting the views of opposition presidential candidates.
Despite being a strong proponent of neo-liberal new public management, a philosophy that advocates for cutting down on costs of public administration among other tenets, Museveni recently gave a remote touch to parliament create more districts prior to the 2011 general elections. Some critics have argued that some of the newly created districts will be spending more on public administration compared to the revenue they are able to generate as a district. The purpose of creating these new districts is not bringing services nearer to the poor, but rather to create powerful voting blocks. Many peasants will be deceived into thinking that getting a district is heaven on earth.
Among all the candidates standing for the 2011 general elections, Museveni is the most experienced as regards the manipulation of fundamental political voting blocks such as; Mengo, women and the peasants etc . It so amazing that even some of the senior cadres in the movement do not seem know where the NRM is going next. In 2003 as they were singing slogans of never allowing political parties back in Uganda, they were shocked to learn that the president had allowed political parties to operate in Uganda. Recently, a minister who had vowed to walk naked if CBS was opened without apologizing to the president was shocked to learn that the ‘monster’ was back on air.
In attempting to understand electoral politics in Uganda, many analyses have tended to locate the election problematics in Uganda in the person of the president. There is a belief in many scholars that once Museveni is defeated, the problems of Uganda will disappear. President Museveni’s candidature must be situated with in the neo-liberal imperial politics of consolidating American interests in the great lakes region. In 2006, the BBC ran a story where Museveni was depicted as ‘’a fallen Engel ‘’however, since Uganda took up a leading role in the war against terror in Somalia, President Museveni became a neo-liberal icon ‘over night’. Despite numerous corruption scandals Museveni’s economy continues to be applauded as a modal economy in Africa. During this year’s ICC summit in Kampala, Dr.Olara Otunu’s insinuation that Museveni should investigated for crimes against humanity in Northern Uganda and Luwero were dismissed as ‘mere politicking’. As if this was not enough, Ugandans were socked to learn that during the same year, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Johnnie Cason a one time critic of Museveni’s grip to power, corruption and nepotism applauded Museveni’s as a president duly elected in a free and fair election.
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