Today, May 12, marks another sad day in the chapter of African history. But for the African tyrants, today is another day of victory. Yoweri Museveni, a dictator who has forcibly ruled Uganda for over 35 years will be sworn in as a so-called ‘democratically elected’ president. Over the past year alone, Museveni and his soldiers have killed and maimed scores of people. While hundreds more have been kidnapped and held as political prisoners without trial.
This does not include victims of his earlier nefarious repression over the decades, which run into the thousands if not tens of thousands. Over 3,000 political prisoners, opposition activists, are missing from last year’s crackdown on the opposition by his NRM government. This gross public display of tyranny as the world looks on, makes one ask: for how long will African dictators continue to rule us with impunity?
The brute force meted out against Robert Kagulanyi, the NUP and all their supporters is a testament of cowardice of a dictator desperately clinging to power at all costs. It shows the fear and trepidation of the old guard of African dictators for the zeal and energy of the youth, and mobilised poor masses.
It is also a stern reminder that young people and their exuberance are unwelcome if they dare question or challenge those in power. The working poor in the ghettos and workplaces who voted overwhelmingly for the NUP because they wanted an alternative to NRM are also supposed to stay mute in the face of their exploitation.
This dangerous precedent takes lead from the massacres of protesters in Nigeria’s #EndSARS movement, and echoes in the repression of protesters in Senegal, Sudan, Cameroon, Ghana and across the continent. It should not and must not be tolerated.
Yet the world watches in silence, which implies the consent of all governments of the bosses. Among Museveni’s cronies and allies are African presidents including the President of Ghana, Afuko-Addo, who just two days ago ordered the courts to stop the ‘#FixOurCountry” protests, and ordered tankers and cannons to forcibly violate the fundamental rights of protesters to lawful assembly.
Other cronies include representatives from other tyrannical states such as the Russian federation, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where dissent and opposition are treated with bloody iron fists as well as the People’s Republic of China, whose imperialism has formed another layer of neocolonialism across the continent. We are aware that in the struggle for a free Africa, there are few allies, only we, as working-class people and youth, can free ourselves.
It is another day for African tyrants and their supporters. The African Union and the European Union have endorsed Museveni while ignoring and silencing the poor and oppositionist Ugandans who have been unjustly imprisoned, assaulted, and harassed by his military, police and administration. We stand with the Ugandan masses to fight back and to regain what has been lost in the violence against them.
We #StandWithUganda to declare Museveni an #ElectionTheif and call on the African masses and working-class people everywhere to join hands to fight back with Ugandans to #EndMuseveniDictatorship and #RemoveM7. We are #AfricaForUganda and while there is every day for the thief, there is only one day for the catcher. The time where African dictators rule as dictators and the people remain silent is over. A new generation is rising up to take back Africa from the hands of its callous and heartless rulers and return it rightfully, to the hands of the working masses.
Nanre NAFZIGER
