Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni will be standing in the country’s 2016 general election and if he wins these elections, he will earn himself a seventh 5 year term in office putting him in the big league among Africa’s longest serving presidents like Zimbabwe’s octogenarian President Robert Mugabe. The President picked nomination forms for the Chairmanship of the country’s ruling party on Thursday.
On the other hand his only rival for the chairmanship of the Party former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi withdrew his candidature accusing the party of undemocratic tendencies. He however said he will be standing for President in 2016.
”To everyone who has asked for clarity in the last few weeks: I am going to start a journey. At the end of this journey I will be the president of Uganda. I call on everyone who dares to believe, all those without hope and all who feel fear I call on all those who know in their hearts that it’s time to take this country forward: join me” Mbabazi said
However Museveni who said he was convinced by the ruling party’s Historical members to stand again said ”historically we would sit down and discuss,not these things of i also want, i also want” Museveni however is yet to take the gloves off and start attacking his former ally as he has done with Opposition chief Kizza Besigye.
With the stage set for a showdown between the two former allies, the country’s opposition is still undecided on what to do with the former prime Minister, with some welcoming him to the opposition while others insist he must make a clean break from the ruling NRM party before they can officially welcome him into their Ranks, like Tanzania’s Edward Lowasa, Uganda’s former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is thought to have a substantial financial war chest to take on his former ally.
Yoweri Museveni has been Uganda’s President since 1986 when he overthrew the then government in a 5 year Guerrilla war, he then set the country on a path to transformation and revival, overseeing a growing economy which he himself at some point referred to as an ‘African tiger’. In 1996 after 10 years of ruling the country with no electoral mandate, Museveni sought the mandate of Uganda’s electorate, he did again in 2001, 2006 ,2011 and will do so again in 2016.
Until 2011, the country’s economy was on his side, then the effects of the 2011 electoral spending caught up with the country’s economy with inflation getting as high as 33% until now, the country Economy is yet to recover and the population blames their President and his cronies for this, a resurgent US dollar has also led to further disillusionment among the country’s elite with some questioning the government’s economic policies.
However Museveni has overseen Massive infrastructure developments in the country over the last 5 years and Infrastructure alongside security will be the highlights of his legacy when he finally leaves power.
