Leading figures in Uganda’s opposition parties and groups have vested interest in perpetuating the culture of violence that has rocked the pre- and post-election violence in Uganda.
In the last week alone, members of the people power group have been engaged in violent running battles with security leading to the unfortunate deaths of two young individuals. This unfortunate occurrence has however overtaken the debate and political agenda in the country and overshadowed the reasons and ideology behind the deaths.
Robert Kyagulanyi, leader of the People Power pressure groups claims to fight for social and political justice in the country. He however has no prior political and social activism history beyond his campaign for Parliament. It then leads to the question, what does he stand for and what drives his campaign?
There seems to be nothing at the moment and this is the reason why the likes of Bobi Wine prefer violence as a tool for political mobilization of especially the youth constituency of the Ugandan electorate. Through violence, he and other like-minded politicians can distract the masses against the key issues that affect their day to day lives. To date, people power has failed to establish its self a political organization and thus is yet to publish a manifesto outlining their plans as an organization.
People Power has also failed to distinguish between Activism and Hooliganism. They have prospered in the latter and have used it win elections in the past as was witnessed in Arua and Bugiri municipality. Hooliganism attracts Media attention and loss of lives agitates the masses irrespective of the circumstances.
Violence also helps to shape the political agenda as the focus is unfairly shifted to the security forces who yield and control the tools of violence. However, the freedoms in our country have shifted the balance of power from those that wield power to the masses through arm twisting and cajoling security agencies to counter react to actions of the hooligans, something that cannot be done without application of reasonable force.
All in all, violence presents a unique and convenient opportunity for opposition actors to mobilize support for their cause and distracts them from key issues and ideology that ought to be top of the political agenda.
