Security operatives are seen during a crackdown on opposition NUP party supporters in Kampala on March 3, 2025. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
I am one of those people who do not follow the posts on the Chief of Defence Forces’ (CDF) X handle, but I read them. Previously, I used to read them for banter.
However, since last year, like many other Ugandans, I have found CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba's posts increasingly alarming.
When I woke up at 1 am, on Thursday, the other week, I turned to my X account. As a journalist, it is almost inevitably the first thing I look at when I wake up in the middle of the night. On top of my feed was the picture of a beardless and visibly tortured Eddy Mutwe posted by the CDF.
Eddy Mutwe, whose real name is Edward Ssebuufu, is a bodyguard of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, the president of the National Unity Platform (NUP), an Opposition political party. I was incredulous as I studied the picture in the dim light. Then I felt fear.
Then, anger. Eventually, my emotions went down the scale, sinking to a deep feeling of hopelessness. It was the same feeling that had settled in the pit of my stomach on the evening of March 13, as I watched my tortured colleagues limping into the newsroom on the day of the Kawempe North by-election; despair and an inability to change the inevitable.
And fear, so much fear for what the future holds. We are in an election season, and what we have seen so far is generating worry and concern. Unpleasant things are going to happen before the year is out, as Samuel Mulwana, a politician from Luweero District, says.
“Eddy Mutwe’s picture affected the psychology of any sober Ugandan. We thought such acts had ended with the past regimes. Unfortunately, the CDF came out to inform the public that he was holding a man who had been kidnapped,” he says.
A screengrab of posts on Uganda's military chief, Gen Muhoozi Kaineruga's X platform, with a photo of opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi's chief bodyguard, Edward Ssebufu, alias Eddie Mutwe.
Mulwana, a card holding member of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, adds that the picture did not leave him the same person.
“I was scared because I did not know why that man was being held. I kept thinking that it could have been me. A security officer can kidnap and torture you, without informing you of the crime you have committed,” he notes.
That politics is a multifaceted stressor, is not in doubt. It can trigger a variety of emotions such as sadness, depression, anger, frustration, and hopelessness. Some people spend a lot of time imagining what would happen if an unwanted presidential candidate wins the election.
“Politics is brutal. As a woman, there are places I am scared of campaigning in. I find myself crying when I look at what is happening on the political scene,” says Rita Nalweyiso, the councillor for Luweero Sub-county, in Luweero District.
Mulwana is worried about the implications of torture images both on television and social media, on his party’s fortunes in his region. “Yesterday afternoon, I attended a wedding in town. When I exited my car, someone called out, ‘Aba NRM baabo abatulugunya abantu!’ (There are the NRM members who are torturing people!). There is no way we can distance NRM cardholders in this region from these acts of torture. The voters are waiting to pay us back in the ballot box,” he says.
What does the future hold?
Lydia Irene Mpiima, a businesswoman, is anxious about the future of her sons, given that kidnappings, especially of NUP supporters, have been ongoing since the last election in 2021.
“What if they pick up my sons just because they are youths? There is nothing wrong with arresting someone who has committed a crime. But why torture them? I am scared of the general election and I do not think I will vote. Maybe some of those who go to the polling stations will be kidnapped and tortured,” she worries.
Protesters barricade a road in Kampala during riots that erupted on November 18. About 54 people were killed in the riots. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
Walter Mwesigye, a journalist, is also apprehensive about the coming election, likening it to a Pandora ’s Box that is waiting to unleash undesirable things. “I know that as journalists covering the election, we will be beaten. I believe we shall be targeted. I covered the last two elections and I can tell you that the level of violence meted out by the State is increasing,” he says.
Mwesigye adds that he has witnessed a lot of violence and therefore, has mentally made peace with the fact that election violence could happen to him. “In the last general election, more than 50 people were shot dead in the streets, in broad daylight. No one was held to account for those murders. That shows you that no one will be held accountable for the violence in this election cycle. My worry is the level of impact it will leave on the voters,” he explains.
Derrick Mbuga, the executive director of Mental Health Uganda, advises people to regulate the time they spend on social media watching election-related content if they are to protect their mental health. “Some of the information on social media is disturbing. If you see a young man hobbling and helpless, you will begin to wonder and draw scenarios about how someone can be beaten to that extent. It creates a lot of anxiety, affecting the viewer’s mental health,” he says.
Mbuga adds that today, several of his peers wonder what is going to happen in the next few months, even though professionally, they are the ones best placed to help the population steer clear of election anxiety. “We wonder if there will still be a country called Uganda if we change from one government to another. But we still advise people to seek professional help. Some politicians have already started exhibiting worrying behaviour,” he notes. Mbuga advises that if you start to notice that you are consuming political content excessively and then later worrying about the implications, or having political arguments with everyone around you, it is best to stay away from politics altogether.
All is possible in an election
Last week, the UPDF (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was tabled before Parliament by the Defence and Veteran Affairs minister, Jacob Oboth-Oboth. The Bill proposes that any person found in illegal possession of equipment or ammunition that is a monopoly of the army will be tried in military courts.
This comes after a panel of seven Supreme Court judges in a landmark ruling on January 31, unanimously banned the military courts from trying civilians.
Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo (C) speaks during a Supreme Court session to deliver a landmark ruling on the trial of civilians in military courts in Kampala on January 31, 2025. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
On the surface, the tabling of the Bill may seem an obvious procedure. However, Opposition politicians are already crying foul, conditioning the population by raising alarm that the return of civilians to the court martial shall be used to persecute Opposition politicians and voters. They are calling on Ugandans to brace themselves for hard times ahead.
Dr Hillary Irimaso, the president of the Uganda Association of Psychiatrists, and a psychiatrist with a special interest in trauma psychiatry, says all forms of mental illness are possible in an election period. “For example, we noticed a significant amount of violence towards the electorate, some candidates, and the press in the recently concluded Kawempe North by-election. This precipitated several mental disturbances on various people who watched the violence on social media or television,” he stresses.
Trauma psychiatry focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of individuals who have experienced trauma and its consequences. “The victims of torture may experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while their relatives experience a wide range of emotions from the financial distress that comes with treating the injuries to potential loss of livelihoods. All this causes psychological stress,” he says.
What the research says
According to a research paper, The Political is Personal: The Costs of Daily Politics, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, by the American Psychological Association (APA), thinking about daily political events evoked negative emotions in the participants.
“Participants who experienced more politics-related negative emotions reported worse day-to-day psychological and physical health on average - but they also reported greater motivation to act on political causes by doing things such as volunteering or donating money to political campaigns,” the paper reads, in part. The research further found that participants who watched a political clip from the highest-rated news shows experienced more negative emotions than those who watched a neutral, non-political news clip.
In a final experiment, the researchers asked participants to try out several emotion regulation strategies while watching the clips: distraction, cognitive reappraisal, or acceptance of their negative feelings. The researchers found that two of the strategies, distraction and cognitive reappraisal, consistently reduced participants’ negative emotions, which in turn predicted better well-being. However, these two strategies also indirectly reduced the likelihood that participants would want to take political action.
To disengage or not to?
As a coping mechanism, some people, such as Mulwana and Mpiima have decided to block out anything to do with the elections.
“I stopped watching TV because I would see people fighting and the police spraying teargas all the time. As a substitute, I listen to gospel music, and when I get tired, I read the Bible until I fall asleep. I hate violence,” Mpiima says. Like Mpiima, several people are turning to spirituality, which has been known to significantly impact mental well-being. For instance, since the beginning of this year, several Pentecostal churches have been holding prayer and fasting sessions for the country after receiving negative ‘prophecies.’ Of late, several self-styled ‘prophets’ have risen on YouTube predicting all kinds of scenarios for the future of the country. They have done their part in ratcheting up the mental illness of a number of their viewers. Irimaso advises that there are things one cannot avoid, and politics tops the list.
“A candidate will come to you to seek your mandate to vote for them. As a Ugandan, you are compelled to listen to him or her. You can never know when and how the security forces, or other forces of violence, may come up,” he advises.
Military personnel pictured patrolling near Kawempe Mbogo Mosque polling station during Kawempe North by-election on March 13, 2025. PHOTO/BENSON TUMUSIIME
Irimaso calls on Ugandans to be aware of the political state we are in and to take precautions by not provoking the security forces and other politicians, avoiding physical fights, and being civil to each other. “Avoid sharing unverified information on social media because what you share might destabilise the mental state of another person. Also, if something is traumatising to you, do not watch it. You need to regulate your use of social media,” he explains.
The experts tell Ugandans not to try to go deep into every political situation. If they feel affected by something, they should vent by talking to other people about their excitement or anger.
Besides promoting the things that work for you, finding a balance between life and politics is key. Voting day will come and go. But your friends, colleagues, and peers who do not subscribe to your political persuasion will remain. As Ugandans, we have to find a way to move forward with each other.
Changing how we relate to political content
1. Set boundaries with political news consumption. Instead of getting pulled away from your life every time you check the news on your phone, see if you can set aside time-limited, designated periods to consume this material. Set a timer, read the news, and when the timer goes off, do your best to move on with your day.
2. Reflect on the reward value (or lack thereof). Before you click on or share political-related media ask yourself “Is this useful for me to consume? What am I going to get out of this?” When current events are reported, it is useful to stay informed but there is a point of diminishing returns for any story. Do you need to read yet another article about that tragedy that happened?
3. Set boundaries with social media. Many people do not engage with social media with the direct intention of confronting political issues. If you are finding yourself getting sucked into the void of doomscrolling, there is an app called ScreenZen that allows you to temporarily block websites and apps, limit your time on them, or delay opening them.
4. Practice mindfulness. Taking just a few minutes out of your day to “be” rather than “do” can be more helpful than you might think. So often our mind is in analysis mode or in a state of wanting this and not wanting that. Mindfulness is a way of being that helps us wake up and stop getting in our way.
5. Focus on doing things in your control and consistent with your values. It is easy to feel powerless about politics. Instead, ask how you can change yourself, your friend group, your family, your neighborhood, and/or your community more specifically. Lasting change is often born from small changes done with consistency.
*Additional information source: https://adaa.org/balancing-politics-and-mental-health
