A presidential election is a process, it's not a mere democratic formality that occurs every five years in one day. Being famous and having money should not tempt one to think that, they are now a politician and can run for presidency and automatically win.
Yes, politics is about numbers, but having thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook does not make it obvious that you will win an election. A lot of resources are required in an election including time, money, skilled manpower, strategy development and effective implementation.
Despite having all these resources in place, Joseph Stalin reminded us that, "It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes." Uganda went to the polls last week and the incumbent president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was re-elected for a sixth term, beating his top rival Robert "Bobi Wine" Kyagulanyi.
Museveni has ruled the country for 35 years and is now set for another five. He is likely to surpass Robert Mugabe's record if he continues to offer the military generals a five-star treatment. It is impossible for one to strike out the fact that, the 76 year old president is a skilled political savvy and has mastered the art of national and international politics.
Museveni's government has over the years implemented an open-door policy to refugees especially from neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This strategy has attracted donor agencies from western countries to support Museveni's administration.
Taking care of fellow Africans is a good gesture, equally so, treating fellow Ugandans with respect and dignity is competent leadership. Bobi Wine was put under house arrest for allegedly violating Covid-19 protocols and police cut short all his rallies.
Well, in the first place, whenever elections are held, people are bound to come together, pandemic or no pandemic. Candidates including Bobi were obviously going to meet the electorate and share their manifesto.
As if the house arrest was not enough, the communications regulator in Uganda ordered all telecommunications firms to block access to social media and messaging apps a day before elections. This was a heavy blow to Bobi Wine's Twitter brigade.
Covid-19 protocols encourage people to interface online, but unfortunately for Bobi Wine this was impossible. That was just unfair. Museveni knew very well that, an internet blackout on the eve of the election would demoralise the youth to go and vote the following day.
Life in politics is never fair, Bobi Wine's campaign team was hoping to take advantage of social media platforms in a last minute attempt to encourage young people to wake up early and go vote. To their surprise, Yoweri Museveni the dictator had the last laugh.
On election day, one could record voting malpractices and take pictures of ballot staffing and simply keep them to themselves; "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" that's Museveni for you. Only the captured state media had permission to disseminate information.
Nonetheless, Bobi Wine's party won a sizable number of seats in parliament, replacing many members of parliament and ministers that were part of Museveni's camp.
Bobi Wine's constituency is the young, urban and unemployed Ugandans. Just like many African countries, 80 percent of Uganda's population is below the age of 35 and this generation is tired of Museveni and his peers whom they say represents the old order.
Be that as it may, many young folks are registered on social media but there are not registered voters. This has misled many young aspiring leaders who run for office hoping that, their followers on social media will vote them into power.
While majority of Uganda's population is below the age of 35, a large proportion of the population is located in the rural areas. This part of the country is made up of old folks, pensioners, war veterans, farmers, patriots that believe in liberation movements. They don't have faith in independent candidates later alone a "38 year old" musician.
The assumption is that; emerging political parties are funded by the west and it's allies and young people are puppets to former colonial masters. The rural electorate is of the view that, young people are naive and are immature to lead.
The defence forces also opt to be led by an experienced commander in chief. A young man can easily betray the fortunes of the liberation struggle and hard won independence. Not only that, the yesteryear generation is part of the voters roll and all of them are prepared to queue for long hours just to vote, unlike the youth.
A lot can be said about Bobi's weakness including his campaign message and how it was received, but Uganda has decided. Once again, the story ends in Museveni's favour. Just like other candidates who have lost elections before, all roads lead to the court for Bobi's campaign team.
The idea that when a candidate is defeated in an election, they lodge an appeal to the Supreme and Constitutional courts is now boring. We now know that, these so-called independent institutions including the judiciary are captured by the government of the day.
The court outcome is predictable, especially in Africa but anyway it's alright to approach the courts. It appears candidates only accept a defeat in court and feel better when the judge rules that indeed they lost the election as previously announced by the electoral commission.
Alas, it's another round of applause to King Museveni. I am pretty sure he will be drinking 'wine' on his sixth inauguration day.
