On Wednesday, November 20th, a prominent Ugandan opposition politician, Kizza Besigye was brought to the Makindye General Court Martial in Uganda after reportedly being arrested under the charges of carrying guns and compromising the country’s national security. Besigye has denied the charges and was in Luzira prison in Uganda until December second. Besigye was kidnapped November sixteenth in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for the book lunch of another politician. Besigye has been arrested multiple times, becoming an open opponent of the Ugandan government. He has also run multiple times, up for election, but lost due to allegations of voter intimidation. The government in Uganda has been under controversy for human rights issues, of which Besigye is an advocate against.
Uganda and Kenya, as of now, do not have shaky relations and as this is more of an internal issue for Uganda I doubt this will cause any state to state issues. However, supporters of Besigye may end up protesting, and the push against the current government may increase. Additionally, Besigye’s wife is a representative in the UN on AIDs and HIV and given that authority, pushback against the current government could come from external factors. It is unlikely the UN will be involved in something seemingly small like this, though Uganda does have a lot of human rights issues, of which the UN does not support.
This connects to the collective good problem, as well as levels of analysis on a state or regional level. The collective goods problem is connected to the human rights issues in Uganda. Among the most pressing to the people are antisemitism, organ harvesting, LGBTQ discrimination, forced evictions, and environmental issues. The levels of analysis approach is more relevant however, because though it is something that happened between two countries, or geographically over the land of two countries, it is mostly an internal issue. Connected to issues of the Ugandan government, and two individuals, Besigye and the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni.