Democracy shmocracy

“[This is to] make sure good leaders like Brother Museveni do not leave power simply because of elections” – Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, describing a recent trip to Libya of some pro-Museveni activists for training in “revolutionary” tactics. (The Daily Monitor, May 13, Kampala)

Uganda is what you might call democratish. The President, Yoweri Museveni has been in power for over twenty years since he staged an armed coup. Recently he had the Constitution amended to abolish term limits, and won another 5-year mandate to rule until 2011.

Despite this, there seems to be a healthy quasi-free press. There is the government-owned rag, the New Vision, that pumps out sunny headlines about Uganda’s bright future. But other papers, like the Daily Monitor or the Independent, offer up often scathing criticism. Then again, many journalists, like the editor of the Independent Andrew Mwenda, get rung up on manufactured sedition charges.

While Museveni is widely considered to condone rampant corruption, it seems to be assumed that even if the 2006 elections were rigged, he would have won anyway. He has, in the end, brought 20 years of stability to a country that before his ascension in 1986 had been torn asunder by decades of war.