Museveni’s Casino: Anne Mugisha on Uganda’s 2011 election
Ann Garrison speaks to Anne Mugisha, 02/19/2011.
Anne Mugisha's Campaign Poster
“We knew exactly what was going to happen in this election. We complained about the registers, we complained about the inflated numbers of people on the registers, we complained about the use of state resources in the election, but we still agreed to go in and participate. So that’s like walking into a casino, knowing that the guy who owns it has to make a profit. Sometimes a few lucky people make some money. But most of the time people lose. So this time around I lost. A few of our opposition people did scrape through, but the casino is owned by the ruling party and President Museveni and they would definitely be looking to make a profit. So that’s how I see this election, like a trip to the casino.” –Anne Mugisha, candidate for Women’s Member of Parliament in Southern Uganda’s Mbarara District
That’s one quote from my conversation with Anne Mugisha, opposition candidate for Women’s Member of Parliament in Uganda’s Mbrara District, on 02.19.2011, the day after Uganda’s 2011 presidential and parliamentary polls closed. She also reported that one of her volunteers came close to being arrested for objecting to the ruling National Resistance Movement’s reps openly buying votes in the center of a village, and she talked about the need to build a culture of nonviolent protest in Uganda, a process that she said would take years.
San Francisco writer Ann Garrison writes for the San Francisco Bay View, Global Research, Colored Opinions, Black Star News, the Newsline EA (East Africa) and her own blog, Ann Garrison, and produces for AfrobeatRadio on WBAI-NYC, Weekend News
on KPFA and her own YouTube Channel, AnnieGetYourGang. She can be reached at ann@afrobeatradio.com.
. The election was rigged since its inception early last year. The E/C led by' Bad Rue" knew what he was directed to do despite various complaints from opposition e.g the yellow register with over 4 Million names,the allowing voters with no ID to Vote etc etc… Am happy because M7 himself knows people wanted change which was denied by both EC and the incumbent. Let M7 rule for ever and ever. Period……………. but age will catch up with him!!
In Egypt,the former ruling party won elections by 81 % just four months before Hosin Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolution.
The good thing is that we had International Observers, so we can have a bias free assessment. And my reading of their reports this morning indicate a largely free and fair election which I validate as an active participant .
Our people have not yet learnt to be good losers and concede defeat; not all contestants can win and this casino analogy is not in the least appropriate to Uganda's just ended elections. We are investing in our future and not merely gambling away our lives.
pole ndugu Anne
I disagree with your comment Sir/Madam, what's that supposed to mean M7 rule for ever and ever. How many babies are born each day? Their is a King, a President, PM, Ministers out of those babies but the problem we have is so many are want to go to heaven but are not willing to die. Success comes with a price, living on earth not on the edge is taking too much space, Comfort is the enemy of achievement and M7 was willing to do what it takes even to die for Change but most of us just want it on a silver plate, it does not work like that in my view and we should stop on this rubbish and move out of our comfort zones and I am not talking about voilence here……
This election is a sham. Museveni remote-controls the EC and everything they do, and he cannot accept a result in which he becomes a looser. He must rig and thats all he did. But I wont give him rest in this five years incase he succeeds to stay. He must learn that more leaders are being produced in Uganda with stronger vision than what he boasts of, and he will become history!
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