Museveni’s NRM taken to court over voter fraud: Andrew Mwenda Playing mediation behind the scenes.

Museveni’s NRM taken to court over voter fraud

The opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) of Robert Kyagulanyi commonly known as Bobi Wine has filed legal challenge in Uganda’s Supreme Court against election results of the January 14, 2021 Presidential election, asking the court to cancel the results and repeat the elections.

“There was outright ballot-stuffing, there was intimidation of NUP agents and supporters, some were arrested on the eve of the election, there was pre-ticking of ballots. We want the poll cancelled and repeated,” said George Musisi, lawyer for Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), on Monday.  Museveni dismissed allegations of vote-rigging, calling the election “the most cheating-free” since independence from Britain in 1962.

Reliable sources have told The Great Lakes Eye Reporter, that the outspoken journalist cum ‘politician’ Andrew Mwenda has been deployed by Museveni to reach out to Bobi Wine and convince him to withdraw the voter fraud  court case in exchange for  a secret agreement on how he can work with Museveni’s government. Among the issues Museveni promised are to release Bobi Wine’s supporters who were arrested during the violent campaigns, and a package of other “goodies” would follow. The same sources informed how Andrew Mwenda has met with Bobi Wine twice since he was released from house arrest, in a bid to discuss the deal.  During the formation of NUP, Andrew Mwenda was seen playing political theatrics wearing NUP red-cap and pretending to register as NUP member, pick nomination papers as a presidential candidate to challenge Bobi Wine.

Political analysts interpreted Mwenda’s moves at the time, as embedding himself as Museveni’s mole within NUP early enough, which did not work out according to plan. Later, Mwenda was seen on television talk shows dismissing Bobi Wine as incompetent to rule Uganda. Medard Sseggona one of the lawyers for the NUP said that any election Museveni participates in can never be a peaceful election and can never be free and fair. “We do not want Museveni participating in any future election”, Sseggona told reporters outside the Supreme Court. 

NUP lawyers allege that "soldiers invaded polling stations" and stuffed ballot boxes with pre-ticket votes. Electoral registers were tampered with at other locations. Museveni cannot be left to cheat and steal scot-free.” Bobi Wine was put under house arrest for two weeks after the electoral commission declared Museveni the winner. 

The Uganda electoral commission declared President Museveni the winner with 59% of the votes against 35% of Bobi wine, in a highly disputed and violent   election that left at least 54 people dead. Security forces used excessive force to brutalize and torture members of the opposition seen as tactic to intimidate and stop them from participating in the election.

Human rights organizations accused Museveni’s government of widespread violence and human rights abuses during the electoral campaigns. Helen Epstein, author of the book “Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda, and the War on Terror,” once told Associated Press Reporter that, "Museveni has always been brutal, but he's always had to play this game with the West, so that he continues to get support.

Over the years, losing opposition candidates have tried to challenge Museveni’s controversial win in courts of law without success. It is therefore, highly expected that the Supreme Court will dismiss the case as lacking substantial evidence to challenge the results. High court judges are not neutral just like the electoral commission. They are all appointed by Museveni and they cannot rule against him.

In Buganda we would say (Enkima tesala gwa kibira), translated as,  “you cannot ask a monkey to condemn the forest where it lives.” However, NUP will have gone through the legal requirements and put the mark on the record to show that the 2021 elections were not free and fair. The Supreme Court must rule on the petition within 45 days.

Independent election analyst Crispin Kaheru said that "The electoral jurisprudence narrows an election process to votes, numbers and statistics on declaration day making election petitions very difficult." By law, Bobi Wine must prove to the court that any alleged irregularities affected the outcome of the election "to a substantial manner" -- a much higher burden of proof than in civil cases. Ugandan courts do not "look at elections as a process but only at events on polling day and declaration day, which makes it very difficult to prove the substantial effect of fraud wrongdoing," Kaheru said.

Security forces are still deployed in the capital city Kampala with soldiers on armored personnel carriers and Police patrolling in the streets. The deputy inspector-general of police, Major General Paul Lokech, said the additional security was due to protests threatened by elements aligned to the NUP, a claim refuted by the party Secretary-General Lewis David Rubongoya saying their party   advocates for a "peaceful change of Museveni's government, and not through violence".

Bobi Wine's National Unity Platform (NUP) won most of the parliamentary seats in central region grabbing a total of 56 MPs out of more than 500, making it the largest opposition party in parliament. Twenty-five members of cabinet, allied to Museveni’s NRM Party including long serving Vice-President Edward Ssekandi, lost their parliamentary seats to NUP youthful and first time entrants in the parliamentary race.  This was the biggest loss ever suffered by the ruling party in three decades, which is an indication of voter fatigue and need for change.

Museveni’s popularity and winning percentages have over the years gone down like a slow puncture; from 68% in 2011, to 60.6% in 2016 and 58.6% this year, 2021.