Retired New Vision editor John Kakande has compared the 2026 general elections organized by Electoral Commission Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama to Dr Milton Obote’s 1980 elections.
The 1980 election was a spark that forced the then Uganda Patriotic Movement leader Museveni and other Ugandans to pick up guns after declaring a war on the sitting Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) government which resulted to its downfall in 1986.
A charismatic Museveni made a moving speech on the steps of the parliament of Uganda after swearing in as the new president of Uganda assuring Ugandans that what had happened was a fundamental change in the country assuring them of joy, freedom and democracy under his leadership.
Appearing on radio Simba’s Gasimbaganne ne bannamawulire talk show hosted by veteran journalist Peter Kibazo, Kakande claimed that the election organized under his leadership is similar if not worse than that organized by men and women he toppled.
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Kakande said that since Museveni took power, Ugandans have been happy and praising the army for the discipline that the men and women in uniform have been exhibiting but what he observed during the elections especially in the districts of Buganda is the army exhibiting characters of the 1980 elections where the army was used to silence dissenting voices just like it was during the UPC leadership.
He particularly singled out districts of Wakiso and Mukono were he claimed that the army was used to declare unsuccessful candidates because they had been fronted by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) just like it happened during the 1980 elections.
Kakande said after the overthrow of Obote, in his life, he never envisioned that he will see the army again being used in rigging elections especially participating in pre-ticketing ballots votes to favour NRM candidates until he saw what happened in Wakiso and Mukono.
Kakande claimed that it was the army and NRM’s ruthless leaders who were determining who has to be declared winner instead of EC officials following the wishes of the voters.
He thus predicted tough times ahead because the opposition especially some youths are also threatening to fight back.
As Kakande was wondering, on the same talk show, former Internal Security Organisation (ISO) senior operative Charles Rwomushana laughed at him loudly telling radio Simba listens that what happened in Buganda in the 2026 general elections has been happening in other parts of the country especially in Western Uganda.
He narrated the experience he went through when he contested against current security minister Jim Muhwezi.
Rwomushana disclosed that his supporters were killed, tortured and some still have injuries on their bodies.
He further gave the example of the incident he will never forget when a full Bishop went at the polling station to vote for his candidate and he was told that he has already voted.
When he insisted that he had not yet voted, security operatives were told that a concerned citizen had voted in his name because they knew the candidate he wanted to vote for.
“Look at this Kakande, you’re just joking. I have been mobilizing people not to participate in the Byabakama elections because it is silly but you decided to ignore us. But I’m telling you, the worst is coming,” Rwomushana a security expert said.
He explained that the country now needs a lot of prayers and serious people to manage it before the situation worsens. He praised National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) for deciding to go into concealment to let the situation settle instead of putting up a spirit fight against the State as some of his supporters have been advising him.
He noted that there is no difference between the state and the person of Museveni explaining that the fact that Bobi Wine threatened to end his leadership the way the people of Libya and other foreign countries did to Muammar Gaddafi was a direct attack on Museveni that is why he is ready and determined to deal with any threat with all his might.
“But what Bobi Wine did was not right during the recent presidential campaigns. He exposed his people who were supposed to help him in the right time in this war before the state. Moving with crowd of youths was very dangerous because the state thought that he was preparing these youths to execute a Libya like plan that is why the state is dealing with him as armed enemy and it is the reason why Museveni warned that what happened in Libya will never happen in Uganda under his leadership.
He noted that the current religious leaders don’t have the capacity to manage the situation the country is going through. He thus advised Ugandans to continue praying to God to calm the situation otherwise the country is sitting on a time bomb.
