What is unfolding in Uganda today would be an insult to democracy to call an election. It is, in substance and effect, the blatant imposition of one-man rule over an entire nation through violence, intimidation, corruption, and the systematic violation of laws and fundamental rights carried out with total impunity.
For nearly four decades, Yoweri Museveni has hijacked the Ugandan state and held its people hostage by personalizing and weaponizing public institutions. Laws meant to protect citizens have been turned into instruments of repression; institutions designed to serve the public have been converted into tools for plunder, deception, and political survival. Yet every five years, a carefully choreographed sham election is organized to manufacture legitimacy for what is, in reality, entrenched authoritarian rule.
Even more disturbing is the role played by continental and regional bodies. In this farce, Museveni is consistently flanked by the African Union (AU), the East African Community (EAC), and fellow African presidents and governments who validate, endorse, and shield his misrule. One must therefore ask: why do the AU and EAC persist in “observing” elections they know by evidence and experience are neither free nor fair? What credibility remains in an observation mission that legitimizes repression rather than defends citizens’ rights?
For decades, Museveni has brutalized political opponents, blocked or severely restricted opposition campaigns, abused state resources for partisan gain, and deployed every known electoral malpractice to guarantee perpetual victory. Long before the rise of Bobi Wine, veteran opposition figures such as Kizza Besigye endured arrests, violence, exile, and persecution. Today, Besigye remains illegally detained in a military facility, facing outrageous and politically motivated charges which is another stark reminder that the rule of law in Uganda exists only when it serves the ruler.
For forty years, the people of Uganda have struggled for freedom, democracy, and dignity. For forty years, the AU, the EAC, and Africa’s political leadership have failed them, choosing instead to side with a tin-pot tyrant without fear or shame.
This tragedy is not unique to Uganda. It is a common and deeply entrenched pattern across Africa. In many, if not all countries, governments are synonymous with corruption, abuse of power, disregard for the law, poor service delivery, and routine violations of human rights. The result is widespread poverty, deprivation, insecurity, and hopelessness.
These are the conditions that fuel violence, coups, and irregular migration. Yet when African citizens rise to demand freedom and accountability, it is often the AU and its regional blocs that rush to the defense of autocratic regimes rather than the protection of the people.
In just recent months, we have witnessed how the AU, ECOWAS, SADC, and the EAC have endorsed deeply flawed elections in Tanzania, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and now Uganda. Is it any wonder, then, that coups, civil wars, and chronic instability continue to erupt across the continent?
Uganda’s experience reflects the broader post-colonial crisis of Africa where sons and daughters entrusted with the highest honor of leadership become, in many cases, worse oppressors than the colonial powers they replaced. This is all the more tragic given Africa’s vast land, strategic location, favorable climate, abundant natural resources, and resilient, industrious peoples. Africa possesses every ingredient to be the most livable, peaceful, and prosperous continent on earth.
Historically, Africa has been a donor to the world, from ancient civilizations through the Industrial Revolution to today’s global economy. Europe’s rise, and now the economic expansion of China and Russia, has been fueled in no small part by Africa’s resources and labor. Yet Africans themselves grow poorer, alienated from the wealth beneath their feet, betrayed by those who occupy institutions of governance in their name.
What is unfolding in Uganda captures the African condition with brutal clarity: the hijacking of nations by unconscionable men and women who derive power from the people only to use it to oppress and exploit those same people.
The time has therefore come for a second independence struggle across Africa; one for dignity, justice, accountable governance, and shared prosperity within our lifetime. And let it be stated plainly: if Bobi Wine is jailed, tortured, or killed, responsibility lies squarely with the AU and the EAC. If Uganda descends into a coup or civil war, the primary culprits will not be the victims of repression, but the regional and continental bodies that chose complicity over principle.
History will not be kind to those who legitimize tyranny while pretending to defend democracy.
