Could A Woman Be The Next President Of Uganda?

Written by Staff

Feb 07, 2016

Maureen Kyalya, 41, admits the odds are stacked against her as the only female presidential candidate in Uganda, a male-dominated country where the leader is eyeing a fourth decade in power.

“He uses force and intimidation,” said Kyalya, describing her former boss, veteran leader and President Yoweri Museveni, who is seeking re-election on Feb. 18.

Candidates on all sides fear violence, with accusations of police brutality and recruitment of volunteer police, known as “crime preventers”, as well as claims opposition groups are organizing militia forces.

“(Museveni has) trained people he calls ‘crime preventers’, but their job is to beat everybody senseless to scare them that there’s going to be war, so they vote for him,” Kyalya said.

Former intelligence chief Gen. David Sejusa, an outspoken Museveni critic, has been arrested and charged with taking part in politics against army law.

With three weeks to go, campaigning is in full swing, but few analysts expect the seven opposition candidates will end Museveni’s 30-year rule.

Kyalya is brutally honest about her chances.

“I know that no matter how hard I try, I’m not actually going to get anywhere,” she told AFP, accusing Museveni of having rigged past polls.

Still, the former presidential aide said she feels compelled to try, insisting Uganda is ready for a female president.

“Martin Luther King said the worst thing a great man can do, is do nothing,” she said.

In power since 1986, Museveni will face his stiffest opposition from Kizza Besigye, a three-time loser for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), and Amama Mbabazi, a former prime minister and ruling party stalwart now running as an independent.

Besigye said Uganda stands at a “crossroad.” Mbabazi vows to restore term limits and overturn changes to the constitution.

But with the two main opposition candidates being influential former members of the ruling party, critics say they struggle to offer a convincing alternative or to effectively criticize a system they created and benefit from.