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Ugandan democracy is for Ugandans, not Americans
What you need to know:
- Shouldn’t it respect the will of the Ugandan people and let courts determine if Mr Opiyo is innocent or guilty?
The US has done so much good for Uganda through its numerous innovations, knowledge transfer, cultural exchange, financial aid, and technical assistance. But like all complex entities, the US has a bad side, too (even a criminal one).
One of the ways it ‘misbehaves’ is by subverting other countries’ democracies while pretending to promote democracy. It churns flames of war in other countries by congratulating election losers, purely based on vote-rigging allegations.
Interestingly, they now have a similar situation at home with president Donald Trump refusing to accept defeat, citing massive election fraud. Had that been another country, the US would have shamelessly congratulated president Trump (the loser) as the winner. Venezuela is still fresh!
The US is extremely loud when it comes to Bobi Wine’s rights but utterly silent about rights of the people Bobi repeatedly exposes to death by flouting Covid-19 rules.
Similarly, they are mute about the rights of police officers who are attacked, people who are blocked from moving freely, women who are undressed, internet users who are cyberbullied, and Ugandans whose businesses or properties are vandalised by riotous Opposition supporters.
Don’t the rights of non-opposition Ugandans matter? Why don’t they ever condemn the Opposition when it violates other people’s rights?
Furthermore, why is the US passing judgment on human right’s lawyer Nicholas Opiyo’s case that is still before our courts of law? Shouldn’t it respect the will of the Ugandan people and let Ugandan courts determine if Mr Opiyo is innocent or guilty, after carefully reviewing all material facts?
The US insistence on prematurely passing judgment suggests that it is interested in Opposition political activism, not justice, at least not justice for all.
That said, the US has no moral right to lecture Uganda about democracy, human rights, or press freedom. President Trump (a chief consumer of US intelligence) and tens of millions of Americans say the just-concluded US presidential election was fraudulent.
Elsewhere, whistle-blower Edward Snowden, who exposed the US government’s illegal and possibly unconstitutional mass surveillance programme, is languishing in exile.
Simultaneously, Julian Assange is being persecuted for journalistic work that exposed gross human rights violations by the US. These include executions of journalists, unarmed Iraqi women, elderly people, and children as young as one by the so-called professional US army; illegal detention and torture of so many innocent Muslims in Guantanamo bay, to mention but a few.
In truth, Uganda’s government treats Black people much better than the US government. If the US is genuinely concerned about human rights, it should reserve its advice and veiled threats for the US government.
It is the global leader of mass incarceration and police brutality against people who look like us.
Furthermore, it should wean itself of that colonial mentality; Americans are not our ‘gods.’
Ugandan democracy is for Ugandans by Ugandans for, not Americans.
We shall conduct it based on Ugandan, not American values. Its insistence on imposing the Opposition (less than 14 per cent of the people’s representatives in Parliament), whose support is limited mainly to urbanites (less than 25 per cent of Uganda’s population), is okay in terms of US empire-building, but it is not democratic.
Mr Kibudde is a sociopolitical thinker
[email protected] Twitter: @kkaboggoza
