KAMPALA, Uganda: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has won six consecutive elections since 1986, but the strongman’s streak of victories seems to falter in the face of a new type of opponent: a young rapper turned in legislator campaigning with a bulletproof vest.
When Ugandans go to the polls on Thursday, 76-year-old Museveni will face the worst threat posed by his government by Bobi Wine, a 38-year-old musician whose campaign has been very consistent with many of the 18 million voters in one. of the youngest nations in the world.
The election has sparked the worst political violence in Uganda in decades, with more than 50 people shot dead by government forces after Wine’s arrest in November. Diplomats and human rights groups have warned of protracted clashes following a campaign that has seen the administration in prison for lawyers, harassing election monitors and violently jamming opposition leaders. On Tuesday, the government also blocked all social media channels.
The contest embodies a generational confrontation across Africa, where older, entrenched leaders face increasingly restless youth populations demanding better economic opportunities. Museveni contemptuously calls Mr. Wine, “my grandson,” while the rapper mocks the president of “an old dictator,” who should leave power to avoid the fate of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe or Moammar Gadhafi of Libya.
“I’m the representative of the future,” Wine said. “The struggle is the generational cause of Africa and we must not back down.”