Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/202102090802.html
The Ugandan supreme court recently dismissed an application NUP (National Unity Platform) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi challenging the victory of president Museveni. Robert asked the supreme court to allow more evidence on grounds that Kyagulanyi was placed under house arrest which disabled him from putting in all of the evidence for his petition in the 15 days he was offered. Museveni is a 76 year old leader that has ruled since 1986, he secured 58 percent of the votes. Kyagulanyi’s claims of an unfair election are based on invalid polling stations, and alleged kidnappings of his supporters by security officers.
This article shows the division in not only Ugandan politics, but politics throughout all of Africa. With a political system not regulating the amount of terms a president can serve, there is lots of potential for corruption and even communism/dictatorships. President Museveni is a former rebel leader that overthrew the old Ugandan government, but now there are many claims of corruption and obstruction of human rights in his department. It’s hard to tell where this conflict could go, but the rare case of another Ugandan civil war could be detrimental for the Sub-Saharan region. The continent of Africa is so divided and war-prone, a Ugandan civil war will most likely somehow involve other African nations.
The Sub-Saharan region is similar to the Middle East in the sense that it is a shatterbelt region, but it doesn’t have a single resource driving the region like the Middle East with oil. This makes reaching hegemonic status a little bit different and possibly more dangerous for the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries in shatterbelt regions often have a mission to reach hegemonic status before their neighbors, this could be an effect of corruption or lack of government stability, in Africa’s case it is a mixture of both. Although President Museveni was a rebel leader who overthrew a corrupt Ugandan government, the lack of structure within the nation of Uganda can cause people that seemed to be good for a country to put their best interest first and approach dictatorships. Now Kyagulani’s claims aren’t said to be true, but keep an eye on this situation because another civil war is the last thing this shatterbelt needs.