KAMPALA, Uganda (CU)_In the aftermath of the disputed Ugandan presidential election results declared on Saturday (Jan 16), the police and military have tightened their grip on the country’s biggest opposition party, raiding its headquarters and placing its leader under house arrest.
This continued oppression of the opposition has sparked criticism from the United States and Canada, as the Western nations condemn the manner in which the highly controversial presidential election was carried out.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for the past 35 years, was declared on Saturday as the winner of last week’s presidential election, and according to the Electoral Commission, Museveni won 58.64 per cent, while opposition frontrunner and presidential candidate of the National Unity Party, Robert Kyagulanyi (better known as Bobi Wine) secured 34.83 per cent of the total votes.
A Ugandan newspaper, the Daily Monitor, reported on Monday that the results had excluded votes from hundreds of polling stations in two opposition strongholds, while a ballot box was also stolen on Thursday.
Wine, who has rejected the official results as fraudulent, has since been placed on house arrest, with Ugandan soldiers and police surrounding his home, while the authorities have also cut off his food supplies and assaulted one of his supporters who tried to visit him. The military personnel also raided the headquarters of the National Unity Party and sealed it off on Monday.
This crackdown on the opposition has provoked sharp criticism from the United States and Canada, with the incoming national security adviser in US President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, Jake Sullivan, saying the situation in Uganda is “deeply concerning”.
“Bobi Wine, other political figures and their supporters should not be harmed, and those who perpetuate political violence must be held accountable. After this flawed election, the world is watching,” he said in a tweet on Sunday.
Although Natalie Brown, the US ambassador to Uganda, attempted to visit Wine on Monday, she was denied access by the security officials.
“Nobody should be unlawfully denied a means to communicate and the freedom to leave their home,” the US embassy in Kampala said in a statement following the incident.
“Uganda’s election campaigns were marred by the harassment of opposition candidates, campaign staff and supporters; suppression of the media and civil-society organization activities; and a nationwide internet shutdown before, during and after voting day,” the statement read.
The government of neighbouring Canada has also denounced the situation in the East African nation, and has called on Ugandan authorities to grant “immediate freedom of movement” to opposition candidates.
“Canada is deeply concerned by the serious restrictions exhibited during Uganda’s election, including the ongoing partial internet shutdown by the government of Uganda, and restrictions on the freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression,” Christelle Chartrand, a spokesperson for the Canadian Foreign Ministry, told The Globe and Mail on Monday.
Nevertheless, President Museveni has dismissed these allegations of electoral fraud, claiming that the last week’s presidential election was the cleanest election in the country’s history.
