Early in April, the Ugandan Supreme Court rejected an opposition challenge to President Yoweri Museveni’s re-election in the February 23 presidential ballot. The opposition Freedom for Democratic Change had challenged the outcome of the ballot, in which Mr Museveni defeated its candidate Kizza Besigye by 59% to 37%. The court ruling closed the chapter on the election saga but added to fears that Mr Museveni’s ominously dictatorial grip on power portends a gloomy future for the country.
Uganda’s alarming slide towards autocracy has gathered pace in the past two years as Mr Museveni’s loyalists manoeuvred to amend the constitution to permit him to stand for a third term. Despite local and international condemnation, with a number of European donors cutting aid to the country, the constitution was changed last year. Mr Museveni’s anti-democratic sensibilities have long been established and he has persistently resisted multi-party politics, always under the cover of avoiding ethnic tensions, which have historically been the cause of hostilities in the country. He has been in power since 1986.
