I have never been a fan of politics at least not in Uganda. The campaigns are mostly branded as mindless entertainment and a lot of hooligans are employed to escort the candidates entourage. During this season a few people earn big while the rest of us who don't, pay for the "free" entertainment on our streets that is mostly disruptive. I do not see the point in voting for an aspirant who parades himself in the middle of the streets waving at on lookers with queen dancers in one of the trucks. True this might be a point of persuasion for a significant portion of the people in the population and its effectiveness cannot not be dismissed completely. My question is what happened to the orators of this country? I can barely listen to any of the candidates simply because half the time they are complaining about the situation in Uganda, which by the way, we are well aware of! What happened to the days when we gatheredaround to listen to a man who was full of passion and conviction. What happened to the true patriots of this country? the patriots who fought not to win the ballot but change the nation? Has politics come to the point where the candidate with the most ridiculous promises wins?
Museveni is not my favorite candidate (I wouldn't say that in public) however if we were to hit the polling stations this instant without doubt I would vote for him. Not because of what he is promising to do which he won't fulfill anyway, rather because of his campaign strategy. Clearly none of the candidates is has the fresh new angel that he/she would need to captivate Ugandans though Museveni amidst criticism has managed to convince the voters otherwise. He is branding himself as more "youthful." He threw a party for them, wrote a rap song and is obviously trying as hard as he can to appeal to them. His PRO must have done his homework.
The new developments have left the other candidates far behind. He has managed to re-brand himself while the rest try to fight him with hate messages not knowing they are giving him publicity by doing so. The opposition better start focusing on policy because at this point, it might be the only thing that might help them snatch last minute votes
ithink for me it's more like the saying, 'a dying man will catch at a straw'. it seems like a desperate attempt to search for votes. that goes to say more about how we are not politically developed. we wait for what the candidate(s) can give us in the short-run than what they can do for us in the long-run.
ReplyDeleteTrue but if you follow the campaigns closely, the opposition is loosing it by far. Besigye had the sympathy of everyone in the last campaign because he was in the middle of trail. He might have seen it as a disadvantage but trust me, it earned him more support then than now when he is frees as a bird.
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