Since the end of the fraudulent February 2016 elections, Uganda continues to experience a crisis with the rule of law: Police is breaking the law and; it is conspiring with criminals to break the law.
The distance between the government and the people has also widened for the worse. In the real free world, leaders of a popularly elected government would endear to the people. This one fears the people!
Many Ugandans are apathetic and silently repulsive to this self-awarded mandate. Many no longer look at Museveni as a bona fide leader. They despise him silently and defiantly. The time for Museveni’s legacy to materialize has elapsed. Whatever happens now, only erases the legacy he could have made as a unique leader.
The mainstream media is rife with reports that the dictator has abdicated most of his roles to his favorite trinity; – brother, wife, and son.
The Judiciary is already rundown and in a state of crisis. The election thieves no longer respect the laws of this land. Many feel immune to due processes and they run roughshod, using state privileges and resources to exert themselves above the law. It is clear that the fraudulent February election is at the root of this collapse of the rule of law.
Incidentally, the law does not even apply for those outside of the shades of the ruling clique.
There, the application of the law is for repression and violation of human rights. They first arrest the suspects, detain, and thereafter, investigate them. Investigation outcomes arrive after one has completed a long sentence. When such evidence is eventually presented, it is just bogus enough for the victims to walk – albeit, without compensation.
The Uganda law society should constitute a process for compensation for those detained purely for political and malicious intents.
The Judiciary is even in a deeper crisis than we already know. Look at the impunities of Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police. For all his law degrees, the Gen is a notorious expert in abrogating human rights. His public display for partisan politics enables him to use the Police to mobilize for, and protect the NRM Party. Now, his “supporters” also wear yellow.
For a Police that liaises with, and promotes criminality, one should only understand that Gen. Kayihura must be the embodiment of the NRM power. He is the Prince of the election fraud and no reprimand can befit him. If the Police Chief is above the law, then who can regulate his actions?
By observing the conduct of the Police, one can conclude that stealing elections deprives a post-election authority of legitimacy and confidence in a society like Uganda that is yearning for change in direction.
Stealing elections only ferment anarchy and tyranny in its purest forms. Public institutions are overwhelmed with demands to adjust to illegitimacy of the new authority and may fail to adjust, given the repressive environment in which it is compelled to operate.
Public policies are subordinated to the priorities of legitimizing the fraudulent authority. The people lose capacity to demand for accountability in the process. And yet, every public institution must endure chaos and counter-productivity during after such a fraudulent elections. Can we fix this part of our politics quick enough?
Incidentally, the first victim of this electoral fraud was the judiciary. The Courts are partly responsible for this impunity because it legalized a fraudulent election. When you legalize an illegitimate process, or outcome, you must play by its new rules.
We learn now that such actions compromises rule of law and make men like Gen Kayihura drunk with power. We are enduring a relapse of the Iddi Amin era. Gen. Kayihura is not any different from Malyamungu or ”Major Kill Me Quick,” with all the attendant foreboding.
Without the rule of law, Uganda becomes a typical Darwinian Island of Archipelagos where only the fittest and connected survives in the crude politics and unpredictable economy.
In the next five years, life will be very hard for Ugandans. Without the rule of law, it may even become impossible.
