"thanks"... from the old man in the hat

Along with the rest of the nation, I received a text from the recently reelected Uganda President, Yoweri Museveni, and it read as follows:

"This is the old man with a hat, thank you for voting for me & the NRM. Let's work together for a better Uganda. Congratulations on the NRM victory."

Photo courtesy of Julie Beckstrom and her blog.

If you're wondering what the hat reference is all about, see the below photo of Museveni's campaign posters.... I'm not quite sure why he's wearing a sombrero. After months of these posters being scattered on every surface in town, no one has ever explained to me what the hat is all about.

But anyway, Museveni won by a pretty hefty majority and will continue in his reign that has lasted 25 years so far. Since then there have been massive celebrations in the city but also a few protest along the way and people chanting songs about how he rigged the vote. But all in all, the elections were relatively peaceful because there was an incredibly strong military presence, which has been continued to be seen in the city (sorry, no picture evidence for this one).

Part of the reason the military is still around is because elections for local officials still need to take place. The elections for mayor were supposed to happen last Wednesday. In fact, a spontaneous public holiday was called for the occasion. However, the voting was called off because by about 10:00 in the morning there had already been shading happenings. Apparently several of the candidates were blatantly stuffing votes. One even showed up with a truck-full of ballots already filled out with his endorsement! So elections are being drawn out in hopes that the cheatery will be put to a stop. Let's hope....

Julie and I were talking about elections the other night and she observed that it seems to be a trend in Africa that if elections are corrupt they are usually peaceful, but its the violent ones that bring justice. I thought it was an interesting observation given the recent events in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. It seems that in order for change to happen, violence and revolution are often the only means to get it accomplished.

It really makes me thankful for the regulation that America (and many other nations) has about length of rule. If a president is corrupt, the maximum amount of damage he can do is in an 8 year span. That simple law keeps those in power from being able to stay in power for too long. Checks and balances. Limitations of power. But if that is not the precedent, it is hard to keep those in power in check.

Anyway, enough about politics. I just hope that in the remaining elections the Ugandan people experience both fair and peaceful elections.