President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, who just won his seventh term at the age of 81, declared yesterday that opposition lawmakers were “terrorists” who wanted to use violence to change the election results.
According to official statistics, Museveni won by a landslide with 72 percent of the vote in Thursday’s election. However, African election observers and rights groups criticized the poll because of the severe repression of the opposition and an internet shutdown, AFP reported.
It was remained unclear where opposition leader Bobi Wine, whose actual name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was after he announced on Saturday that he had fled a police raid on his home and was hiding.
Police denied the raid and said Wine was still at home, but they wouldn’t let reporters go close to the house.
Museveni stated in his victory address yesterday that Wine’s party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), had plotted to attack polling places in areas where they were losing.
Museveni, who has been in charge of the East African country since 1986 when he took over as head of a rebel army, stated, “Some of the opposition are wrong and also terrorists.”
He remarked, “They are working with some foreigners and some gay groups.”
“All the traitors, this is free advice from me: stop everything because we know what you’re doing and you won’t do it,” he said.
The government said it would keep the ban on social media platforms until further notice, even if some internet was restored late on Saturday.
Two days before the vote, the government shut down the internet to stop “misinformation” and “incitement to violence.”
Since the results came out, Uganda has mostly been peaceful. There were tiny protests on Saturday night, and our reporters say that tear gas was used in several districts of the capital, Kampala.
There were a lot less police officers on the streets on Sunday, and stores were open.
Attacks Planned “Everywhere”
Analysts say the election was just a formality because Museveni has complete control over the state and security forces. However, many Ugandans still praise him for bringing peace and prosperity.
He has done everything he can to stop the violent protests that happened in nearby Tanzania during the polls in October.
The Butambala area of central Uganda witnessed the worst tales of violence on election day. An opposition lawmaker told our reporter that security personnel had killed at least 10 people at his residence.
Museveni agreed with the authorities that the murders were caused by a planned attack on a police station and a place where votes were counted in the area.
He said that the NUP had planned such attacks “everywhere.”
Human Rights Watch said that the government was “brutally repressing” the opposition before the elections.
Kizza Besigye, another important opposition leader who campaigned against Museveni four times, was kidnapped in Kenya in 2024 and hauled back to a military court in Uganda for a treason trial that is still going on.
African election observers, including a team from the African Union, stated on Saturday that “reports of intimidation, arrest, and abductions” had “instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process.”
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