Never a dull moment: A ballot stained by blood, bribes, bullets
Human rights defenders at a press conference in Nairobi on November 20, 2020, where they spoke against police brutality in Uganda. When Bobi Wine was arrested in November on allegations of breaking social distancing rules while on the campaign trail, riots broke out in different parts of Uganda. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
Elections in Uganda have always been controversial. When the Catholic-leaning Democratic Party and its leader Benedicto Kiwanuka won the first election in 1961 just before Independence, the Anglican-aligned colonial government muddied the waters and arranged fresh elections the following year. They were dutifully won by the Anglican Uganda Peoples’ Congress and Milton Obote.
After being ousted by Idi Amin, Obote returned in 1980 to, once-again steal the election from DP this time under Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere. This gave Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his National Resistance Army/Movement the justification to launch the five-year guerrilla war that brought him to power but little incentive for electoral reform.
