With the Presidential election just about a week away, there seems to be a serious lack of actual information on the 8 candidates, BUT at least it seems the election will be fair - or at least that's what my naive American mind has been lead to believe. I was glad to learn there can't be double-voting after wondering about the lack of registration cards/IDs: a voter casts the ballot, s/he stamps a finger in an ink pad to signify s/he has voted; the ink doesn't come off for at least a week! At least it's something but will people vote or just watch the election unfold as we all expect it to...
But truthfully I have been a little frustrated not to find much information on the candidates, aside from on their website and I can't imagine many people logging on and reading up. But in my own hopes of shedding some light on the 8 candidates, I recently bought a nation wide magazine (equivalent to Time/Newsweek) with the cover story "
Who Will Get Your Vote: The 8 Candidates To Choose From" - seems straightforward enough. Well, the 8-page spread of
pictures; rather the "Obama-i-zation" of the candidates own campaign pictures. Basically an artist took their picture, turned it into a paint-like rendering and slapped a platform-telling word on the bottom. Believe it or not, that's about what it takes - most voters will make up their mind at the polls, based on the candidates campaign poster.
The main contenders next week will be Yoweri Museveni of National Resistance Movement (NRM) and Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). To me, this seems to be a lesser of two evils situation and leaves Ugandans unenthusiastic about voting.
Random note: Besigye was once Museveni's doctor and a member of his rebellion, ironically enough! Both have military trucks barreling through streets blaring rap music, stacked with rowdy men clad in t-shirts boasting their image. Museveni though has the advantage of using his own rap song which has no doubt topped the charts here. Pres Obama, you listening?
Current President Museveni's campaign paraphernalia preach "Prosperity", and he is pictured in a suit, but in an effort not to see out of touch, his head is topped with a large straw farmers hat.
Perhaps not by coincidence, recent independent polls showed Museveni ahead in rural, largely uneducated areas. Well,
prosperity...prosperity... maybe not the first word that comes to mind for him and as beautiful as Uganda is, it's not exactly the picture of prosperity, either. Besigye's token word is "Change" and while indeed appealing, it may be unlikely his party, the FDC, which is made up of nearly 7 independent groups, will ever be able to effectively create that 'change' they preach. Besigye was shown to be ahead in urban centers and among more educated voters, independent polls concluded.
But with the election looming just a week away, it's politics as "usual" -
everywhere I look and read it's reports of
this candidate is rigging this thing,
that candidate is using intimidation tactics towards voters, and
he paid this person
HOW MUCH money?! Besigye's trying to disqualify Museveni on the grounds of who-knows-what and Museveni is trying to jail Besigye...again (first time 2001). His previous allegations include rape & unlawful possession of firearms; however, it's a bit unclear where the truth lies in his convictions, but it is known the woman who accused Besigye of rape lives in a house paid for by the State House (of Museveni) and has all her expenses paid by the President's office - all this since she reported the incident over 5 years ago....
There is no doubt Museveni was a well-timed replacement for Obote and he is by no means as horribly oppressive as Amin was, but I'm not convinced that's a reason to elect someone, rather RE elect, again. Early in his presidency (which started nearly 25 years ago!), Museveni no doubt endeared himself to international donors and even counted USAs own Bill Clinton has a supporter. Museveni will also (and rightly should) be commended for being one of the first African nations to publicly declare the HIV/AIDS scourge as a national problem. In the 1980s, he launched a country-wide campaign to raise awareness and encourage Ugandans to fight the further spread of the disease. But, seems some of that may have fallen off the charts (ref: earlier blog about expired condom government 'warehouses' posing as residences).
On a less glittering note, last July, he used parliament to remove presidential term limits in the Ugandan constitution. And by used I mean, [reportedly] paid each parliamentarian up to $3,000 for their support, though the government said the money was to "help parliamentarians consult with their constituents." I don't think I need to say it, but it's easy enough to see a bribe! Not unlike many other African nations, this government is rife with corruption and bribery - anyone from the President himself down to the traffic police patrolling the streets-everyone is searching for a free handout or if the the situation calls for it, paying it out. The greedy cycle makes me sick! In 1986 Museveni also established a "no-party system", reasoning party politics would only highlight the divisions responsible for the bloodshed under Amin and Obote; however, at the same time, voters overwhelmingly backed multi-party politics. His move could have been seen as a {
slow} step-by-step move toward democracy, or just a show by a man convinced that
he is essential for Uganda's survival (certainly one reason why he has put nothing in place that would allow for a successor...). In recent years it seems that slow and steady pace points to one thing: ensuring he stays in office term after term...after term.
Museveni may not win the 50 percent necessary for an outright victory and even though it is likely he will be re-elected, he has
promised he would accept defeat, saying, "I will give out the keys officially when elections are well conducted and I lose. I will even support the winner," he told the Mbarara-based Radio West talk show in January....
Noting recent African election outcomes, notably Kenya's in 2007 where the incumbent lost and decided the rightful winner would best be suited for Parliament rather than his seat (and such positions were assumed), or Ivory Coast's current outrage with a President refusing to leave office after losing, I am indeed curious to see what the outcome will be here. It certainly raises a lot of concern as to whether these elections may reverse any democratic progress Museveni's managed and take a fast route to a scenario all too familiar in Africa: a power-hungry dictator hell-bent on self-preservation...
