Why not do away with 2026 General Election?

A few of years ago, 2022 to be more precise, the President of Tanzania, Ms Samia Suluhu cancelled Independence Day celebrations and directed the budget be put to use for the betterment of the nation.

This was not a new phenomenon in the country given that her predecessor, the late John Magafuli had done the same in 2015. Now one might ask themselves, which right thinking member of society compares elections and Independence Day celebrations more so given the gravity of elections in a democratic dispensation as we have in Uganda.

Well, the answer is plain and simple. The benefits of holding free and regular elections have consistently been outweighed by the detriment that often times arises from them and I will give the reasons for my seemingly outrageous suggestion.

First and foremost, Ugandans have failed to appreciate the basics of elections and democracy in general. Elections are not democracy but merely a bolt in the engine of a democracy. But we have come to interpret having regular elections as having a democracy.

This explains the lack of emphasis on ideology in political party formation and limited input in the formulation of political manifestos, among others.

Therefore, we ought to accept a quiet disturbing and uncomfortable truth: Uganda is not a democracy in its most ideal description. Instead what we have is a hybrid system with trappings of both a democracy and authoritarian government, which often times clash. These have been witnessed on the streets of Kampala where Opposition political rallies are often times dispersed with unjustifiable and disproportional force.

The courts of law have often times come under fire for seemingly taking decisions that favour the interests of the current political establishment. 

Our phones have not been spared either, and the conclusion one can reach is that we Ugandans have become like the proverbial ostrich that sticks its head under the sand when faced with danger under the false belief that since it can no longer see the danger, it does not exist. But in all truth, the danger is real and it’s steering at the rest of the body that we have left exposed.

Secondly, elections have deteriorated as a mechanism through which people can elect their leaders and participate in governance. 

On the contrary, this democratic process has been reduced to a means for procuring political legitimacy from a population that has been reduced to paupers ready to sell their votes to the highest bidder.

With every passing election, the reputation of the National Resistance Movement-led government has been tainted by allegations of vote buying and rigging, use of state resources to procure support and the use of security apparatus to destabilise the efforts of the Opposition to participate in the democratic process. The list is endless. 

This adds to the irony of the entire 39 years of the present regime given that its leaders waged a war as a result of an apparently rigged election of December 1980. 

The question then is, why have elections in 2026 when we know that our great country is going to literally ‘burn’ money and waste human life in an effort to sanitise the political image of our political establishment.

Thirdly, far from being an organiser of a legal democratic process, the Electoral Commission has reduced Ugandans to what Gen-Zs would call an ‘understanding girlfriend’ who accepts the bare minimum from her incompetent lover. 

We have come to accept mediocrity in an institution, which albeit being highly susceptible to interference during the appointment process, fails time and again to deliver on its constitutional mandate. This extends to our political leaders who believe that an occasional kilogramme of sugar will compensate for their absence from their constituencies during their five-year terms.

These very leaders whose rule rests firmly on their control of economic resources and naked force will then cry foul when the political environment becomes toxic and intolerant as witnessed by the formation of militia-like groups in the Opposition parties and if the charges against Dr Kizza Besigye hold water, the decision by a four-time presidential candidate to unfortunately attempt other means to effect political change.

But elections are a powerful aspect of democracies when held in the right environment and with a significant degree of fairness and transparency. 

They are a necessity for the political dispensation that Uganda seeks to have. Until we are ready to accept certain truths and have the proper conditions in place, why waste tax payers’ money and shed needless blood and yet we could just do away with the upcoming polls and probably vote in 2031.

Arnold Trevor Longole is a student at Makerere University School of Law. [email protected]