KAMPALA, Uganda
Uganda’s long-serving President Yoweri Museveni has collected papers to seek nomination as the ruling party’s candidate in next year’s presidential election, the party said on Tuesday.
Securing a new term would potentially extend
the 75-year-old former rebel fighter’s rule to four decades.
“Yes, we can confirm he has picked nomination
forms for our flag bearer position,” Rogers Mulindwa, spokesman for the ruling
National Resistance Movement (NRM), told Reuters, adding that no-one else had
yet shown up to contest him within the party.
Though no date has yet been fixed for the 2021
vote, it is typically held in February.
The strongest opposition presidential aspirant
is pop star and lawmaker Bobi Wine, 38, whose music endears him to the young.
Critics complain Museveni has been using
anti-coronavirus measures like bans on public gatherings to secure an advantage
and stymie preparations by opponents.
Uganda has been relatively
sheltered from the pandemic so far, with just 1,065 cases reported and no
deaths.
In power since 1986, Museveni’s tenure is only
surpassed in Africa by Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang, who has ruled since
1979 and Cameroon’s Paul Biya, who has ruled since 1982.
After years of instability in Uganda including
the despotic rule of Idi Amin, Museveni was initially hailed by the West as
part of a new generation of African statesmen, praised for his economic and
educational reforms and the continent’s most successful fight against HIV/AIDS.
But over the years, he was increasingly
criticised for refusing to relinquish power, failing to end corruption and an
autocratic leadership.
In past elections, the ruling party has
ring-fenced the candidacy for Museveni, disqualifying some potential rivals.
Rights groups have long accused him of
deploying security forces to intimidate opponents while using public finances
to reward loyalists and expand his support.
Police have this month dispersed two opposition
gatherings while, critics say, allowing government politicians including the
health minister to hold open meetings.
“Coronavirus measures have become a tool for
Museveni to control and destroy opposition to his rule,” said opposition
lawmaker Semujju Ibrahim Nganda.
Ruling party spokesman Mulindwa denied any
double standards. “The opposition say that to win sympathy,” he said.
Museveni has won five presidential elections
and in 2017 Uganda’s parliament, dominated by NRM lawmakers, removed an age cap
from the constitution, allowing him to seek another term.
That parliament vote was marred by fist fights in the chamber and at one point elite force soldiers entered and removed opposition lawmakers. - Reuters
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