Abstract
As Ugandans prepare to head to the polls, the voice of political opposition is being disappeared from the public space.
“Please, let’s all go home peacefully because these Museveni thugs have no heart. If you argue with them, they can easily blow you into pieces with their heavy guns. We are tired of this regime and its brutality which has lasted for nearly four decades,” said Brenda, as customers dispersed in all directions, fearing for their lives.
“Will we ever be free one day in this country? Now, it seems to be getting worse as the elections draw near,” a shopkeeper said as he served the last customer before closing.
“Nobody argues with the security forces,” a Uganda People’s Defence Forces soldier said, as he and his colleagues went door to door, ordering people to stay inside. “We don’t want any excuse whatsoever from anyone. The president’s orders should not be defied.”
The UPDF, the Local Defence Units – an untrained, unprofessional and deadly armed civilian force – and the police have been accused of using heavy-handed tactics, including murder, to enforce the Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
Scores of people have been shot dead, including an 80-year-old woman who demanded to see a search warrant, while others have been shot and left with lifelong wounds, including a food vendor who was burnt with cooking oil by security forces.
For the past four months, Ugandans appear to have been witnessing the death of freedoms – especially freedom of expression – as Yoweri Museveni, president since 1986, uses what many see as dirty tricks to win a sixth term in office at next year’s elections.
Sylvia Namubiru Mukasa, chief executive of Legal Aid Service Providers Network (Laspnet), told Index: “Many Ugandans have died at the hands of security agencies. Other violations include [attacks on] the right to personal liberty through arbitrary arrest and incarceration of suspects beyond the 48-hour rule.
“[It’s a] violation of the right to food, with many going hungry; the right to education; and economic rights and livelihoods, especially for teachers, among others.”
Incidents of intimidation and repression seem to be on the increase in Uganda. Opposition politicians’ posters are being torn down, and many suspect such actions are by Museveni’s people.
Supporters of presidential candidate Bobi Wine (real name Robert Kyagulanyi) have been targeted by security forces when they get together to welcome him. All gatherings have been banned and there’s a belief the police are using this as an excuse to scare away the popular candidate’s supporters.
On July 20, Charles Mutyabule, one of Wine’s supporters, was knocked over and killed by a vehicle. Wine, meanwhile, has asked the government to investigate all lockdown killings.
Anthony Masake, of human rights and civil liberties organisation Chapter Four Uganda, told Index that the brutality and extrajudicial killings by security forces were having a huge impact on democracy as Uganda heads to the 2021 general election.
“In addition to the fact that lives have been senselessly lost, the attacks are having a chilling effect on the exercise of freedoms. The killings, although mostly happening in the context of enforcing Covid-19 presidential directives, have encouraged self-censorship in political participation,” he said.
“These are familiar tactics of regimes that seek to narrow space for dissent, which is crucial for any free and fair democratic process. I think that the objective is to continue unfairly tilting the ground against opposition groups. An election is a process. What is happening now is already suffocating any idea that there can be a fair election.”
The incidents are generating tension and radicalising the youth, with some openly swearing that it will be Wine or nothing come 2021.
“Ugandans are in Egypt and suffering at the hands of Pharaoh, who is Museveni. So we’re all waiting for Moses, who is Bobi Wine, to liberate us and restore freedom, peace and prosperity,” 21-year-old Alfred told Index.
However, Alfred’s dream might not come true in 2021, as Wine and his party might not prove visible enough to unseat Museveni. The Electoral Commission has said that 2021 election campaigning must move online and on to television and radio to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Laspnet’s Mukasa has lashed out at the commission’s ruling, saying remote campaigning will disadvantage opposition politicians, who won’t be able to access many media platforms.
“As a matter of fact, 90% of the media houses are owned by government bureaucrats,” she said. “This is therefore likely to undermine balanced reporting and coverage of opposition politicians. In the previous 2016 general election, Forum for Democratic Change presidential aspirant Kizza Besigye was allegedly denied access on several media platforms, especially on the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, which is state-owned media.
“On other occasions, the Uganda Communications Commission has issued directives restricting private-owned media stations from hosting opposition politicians such as Bobi Wine… Museveni has [also] enjoyed more media coverage on both TV and radio through his national addresses on Covid-19.”
In addition, she said a sizeable number of the population, especially in rural areas, had no access to electricity and the internet so would struggle to access television, radio, social media and social networks.
“The public will therefore be denied the right to access information as well as participating in the electoral process. Other groups that are likely to be marginalised from online campaigns include people with disabilities, including the blind and deaf,” she added.
Masake echoed Mukasa’s sentiments, saying popular participation through universal suffrage was an inalienable right of the people. “This fundamental right hinges on the right of people to be informed and have the platform to engage with political candidates for a two-way conversation,” he said.
“The right to freedom of information, expression and assembly – both online and offline – are central to that participation. Even in a pandemic, it is important that these rights be limited only to the extent that is necessary, proportionate and justifiable in a free and democratic society.
“I’m afraid that the proposed restrictions in the context of digital campaigns do not meet this standard.”
He said if public health arguments justified strict digital campaigns, the elections should be postponed by six months. “The framework for doing so is provided under the 1995 constitution of Uganda,” he said.
Members of local defense units patrol the streets to enforce curfew in Uganda’s capital Kampala, April 2020
CREDIT: Sumy Sadurni/Getty
As freedoms continue to disappear and the country reaches a political point of no return amid the rapid spread of Covid-19, millions of Ugandans are struggling to put food on the table. This is forcing them out of the house in violation of lockdown rules. Women appear to be the hardest hit, with thousands occupying street corners and public places to sell anything they can. At the same time, sex workers are particularly busy.
Asked if they were afraid of cops, one of them, a teenager, told Index: “I don’t care about Museveni and his killers because none of them feeds me and my family. I have two siblings and a sick mother to look after. Is police brutality a new thing in this country? Ugandans are used to it since 1986. We’ve never been free in this country – not now, not before corona.”
Macklean Kyomya, executive director of the Alliance of Women Advocating for Change, said sex workers were being targeted with violence, blackmail and arrest by police. “Women doing sex work and their families were already starving because local government officials have denied them food aid.
“Now they are being brutalised and traumatised, and forced to choose between starving, isolated with no income or working while risking their own health and safety.”
Kyomya said Covid-19 was not just a health issue but one that had deepened pre-existing inequalities, exposing women to the vulnerabilities of the social, political and economic systems in Uganda.
As tension persists, many Ugandans fear that another Museveni victory could lead to violence.
“Walking into the election in the present structure of digital campaigns, brutality by security forces and overt partisan law enforcement will certainly result in one of the most contested elections in Uganda. It may lead to a constitutional crisis and social unrest,” Masake said, urging the government to declare a state of emergency.
But, so far, the ruling National Resistance Movement has rejected calls for a state of emergency. The avenues for Ugandans to fight for their freedoms are fast disappearing.