MUSEVENI’S DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY DISTURBING

MUSEVENI’S DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY DISTURBING

President Museveni’s   regime has been in the media limelight for all the wrong reasons, especially on open violation of human rights. This is as a result of the brutal response to protests staged by Ugandans in Kampala, over the rising costs of living as well as rising fuel prices.

The applied format of the demonstrations was a “Walk to work” campaign. This indeed was a demonstration within the precincts of the law for one can decide to either walk to work or go by vehicle. What did Museveni’s regime do? The police with the help of the military unleashed a wave of violence on civilians that shocked and stunned the world. The most brutal being the harassment and beating of the Ugandan opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye that forced him to be admitted at a Kenyan hospital. 

In his recent address in Nairobi, Mr. Museveni reiterated   that he is more concerned with delivering electricity to Ugandans than respecting their fundamental rights. This can be termed as an arrogant statement uttered by a sitting head of an African independent state. In my diplomacy class the respect for human rights is an important aspect and requirement by members of the United Nations. 

The empty rhetoric and hyper arrogance being showcased by President Museveni is a show of failure to accurately metamorphosise from a guerrilla to a more respectable civilian president. It is heart wrenching for President Museveni to refer to his subjects as a bunch of armed militants who want to topple his government, going to the extent of vowing to deal with them firmly. 

The Media is a custodian of information on behalf of the public. This journalistic calling has forced most African Media houses to invest heavily on modern technology for news gathering and dissemination of information. Both the local and international media zoomed their lenses to capture images of the Ugandan military storming in civilian homes, dragging then out and beating them up senseless. Isn’t it embarrassing for Museveni to appear in an interview conducted by a local media house, claiming that the media house was not serious for it engaged in partial reporting and that the CNN camera lenses were not functioning properly, this is absurd Sevo!

This was indeed an unfortunate event for the people of Uganda. Mr. Museveni’s image as a revolutionary and statesman has been tainted, especially now that he is pushing the Ugandan parliament to pass a law that will forbid the courts from granting bail to his well known opponents. 

Museveni has been championing for the installation of the East African Integration project. As  much as he deserves credit for this, it should be well understood if not realized that the events that have been unfolding in Kampala has been reflected across the East Africa economies and may plunge the region into a crisis.

The days of autocrats are long gone, like many that have stayed in power for long and it is only in African states where leaders have ended up being captured in bunkers for violating Human rights.

By 

Shadrack Mbaka