KAMPALA, Uganda (CU)_With just a day to go for Uganda’s general election, the opposition is stumbling through a wave of intimidation and repression launched by the government.
In July last year, Reggae singer and lawmaker Robert Kyagulanyi – better known by his stage name Bobi Wine – joined the National Unity Party and quickly evolved into the most popular presidential candidate to challenge Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in his 35 years in power.
This led the government to unleash a series of repression against the opposition parties and their supporters. In November last year, during a rally of the National Unity Party, Wine was arrested for the second time ahead of the election, and subsequently, around 54 protesters were killed while several others were arrested.
Analysts say Wine’s prominence has likely protected his life, although this is not the case for other opposition candidates and their supporters. One such opposition candidate, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, on Monday (Jan 11), was arrested for the ninth time since declaring his candidacy, this time over a mere traffic law.
Meanwhile, the police have justified these arrests as a part of enforcement of social distancing protocols and blamed the deaths of protesters on Wine and “others who seek to incite”.
Ugandan authorities cite the importance of preventing the spread of Coronavirus in order to impose restrictions on campaigning in almost all Ugandan cities, including the capital city, Kampala.
President Museveni has therefore continued to campaign in ways that less obviously flout those rules, such as visiting sites of development projects, which attract large crowd owing to his presence.
As advised by the electoral commission, Wine and other leading opposition candidates have urged their supporters to stay within 100 meters of polling stations instead of returning home, although such action is expected to meet with violent dispersal from the military.
“The terror, frankly, is unprecedented,” said Kizza Besigye, a veteran opposition leader said. “This election has witnessed untold violence. It gets worse and worse by the day.”
Last week, Wine filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Museveni and nine other security officials, accusing them of arbitrary arrests, abuse, torture, mutilation, murder of civilian protestors and arrest and beatings of political figures.
Uganda hasn’t peacefully transferred power since its independence from Britain in 1962. Museveni has had the constitution changed twice, once to remove term limits on presidents and other to remove age limits for presidents, both which enable him to legally remain in power.
