To EU and US: First sort out Ukraine, Venezuela, Gaza, Sudan

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OPINION

By Milli Shamiem

Just when we thought we were seeing the last of the facets of neocolonialism on our continent, it seems the European Union (EU) and some in the US establishment have other ideas. They have the audacity, yet again, to try and command the state of democracy and human rights in Uganda, even with fire in their own ‘backyards’ in Ukraine, Venezuela, Iran and Gaza, among others.

Soon after the release of the results of the January 15 elections, the EU issued a statement expressing, among others, concerns about the “arbitrary apprehension” of opposition leaders, while, on the other hand, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Risch, described the election as a “hollow exercise staged to legitimise Museveni’s four decades in power”.

The two statements are tantamount to meddling in Uganda’s internal affairs, with a vested intent to shape them in favour of a certain side and set a negative narrative internationally. They presented no new claims other than what they have always said after every election in which a sitting government emerges as the winner in Africa.

The statements were nothing but a conceited attempt to rewrite the terms of Uganda’s democracy and to subvert the will of the millions who turned up to vote. They should be disregarded by all people of goodwill who have been following trends in the journey of Uganda’s democratisation.

All has been done over the years to place power fully in the hands of the people as per the Constitution, with regular elections. Uganda operates one of the most open environments for public discourse on the state of affairs and governance of the country, the sort of thing you do not see in many countries in the region, even above the grade in Europe and in the US.

To understand the 2026 general election better, one needs to look at the overall political situation in Uganda. The country operates an open and competitive process, where voting is by universal adult suffrage, pitting the sitting National Resistance Movement (NRM) Government against several opposition groups. NRM has won back-to-back victories, with the latest one secured on January 15, responding with a share of support higher for the incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni, at 71.65%. NRM scooped the majority of parliamentary and local government positions.

The pre-election arrangements of different groups gave an idea of who was likely to emerge strongest by way of the level of participation in the NRM party primaries versus what other parties managed. The National Unity Platform (NUP), Forum for Democratic Change and Alliance for National Transformation, among others, did not have primaries to talk about yet; this is the crucible to test every party’s involvement with the masses in electioneering and mobilisation.

Add to this the fact that NRM had about 17 unopposed MPs by election day. Anybody who was following these trends closely could tell which party had prepared and which ones were jokers. What was hollow about the elections was the quality of candidates that the opposition fielded against Museveni, an experienced and most viable leader of repute in Africa.

With such a background, for the EU to come forward and claim that an unlevelled playing field influenced results is absurd.

The uneven playing field is a cry of the weak and their benefactors who never wish Africa well. These weak groups and their supporters locally and abroad have a penchant for crying foul and seeking sympathy without putting in the necessary groundwork to move the ground in their favour.

Any tension witnessed during the elections was not widespread, nor did it have a significant effect on the processes and outcomes. The tension centred around NUP and its presidential candidate, Bobi Wine, whose tendency in politics is to incite the public and stoke anarchy. If it were not for the alertness of the security agencies, Uganda would be ablaze now. 

Our intelligence has briefs pointing to a consistent pattern of pushing regime change in “third world” countries on the basis of imperialist considerations targeting natural resources, data mining and social engineering, among other impositions, which explains why next door Tanzania and Kenya nearly imploded, while Sudan and South Sudan are on the brink. The imperialists had their hands all over these elections, but failed to get inroads to influence them directly, hence what we are witnessing.

Wouldn’t the EU and US rather think about bringing the genocide in Sudan to an end if they so stand for human rights? What’s human rights without life? There is no war in Uganda and Ugandans are going on normally with life. Only those with intentions of causing problems can try their usual antics, but facts are that Ugandans have decided. Any grievances can be addressed in court and other established avenues.

The writer is a public policy and development scholar at Cavendish University