Yoweri Museveni - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

What you need to know about Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ law

A Ugandan court has upheld a sweeping law that introduced the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality", leaving only one legal route to challenge some of the most punitive anti-LGBTQ+ measures in Africa. The Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld the validity of the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Act, while striking down some of its key sections, citing health and privacy concerns. Here's the big picture. What is the Anti-Homosexuality Act? The Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May 2023, and its draconian measures have prompted U.S. and World Bank sanctions. While Uganda had long criminalised gay sex, the new law is harsher than its…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Ugandan president’s son vows crackdown on graft after taking over military

NEWS

THE son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged to fight corruption in the military after taking over as its top commander, a move widely expected to accelerate his rise to eventually succeed his father. Museveni, 79, who has led Uganda for 38 years, named 49-year-old son Muhoozi Kainerugaba as the East African country's new Chief of Defence Forces last week. In a formal handover ceremony on Thursday, Kainerugaba "vowed to improve the welfare of soldiers by fighting the evil of corruption and mismanagement of resources", according to a statement released by the military. Uganda's military plays a significant role in regional…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s president appoints son as military chief

NEWS

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has appointed his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as head of the military, the defence ministry said on Friday. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, 48, a general in the military, is widely seen as his father's successor in waiting and once stirred controversy by threatening to invade neighbouring Kenya. The ministry said in a statement he replaces Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, who was removed and appointed as a junior minister. In 2022, Museveni removed his son as commander of Uganda's land forces after he made threats to invade neighbouring Kenya in posts on social media platform X. In the posts, Kainerugaba also expressed support…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s battle for the youth vote – how Museveni keeps Bobi Wine’s reach in check

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

UGANDA is one of the youngest countries in the world, with an average age of 15.9 years. Young people aged below 30 make up about 77% of the country’s population of 47 million people. Young people have legitimate and wide-ranging grievances, from unemployment to disenfranchisement. Opportunities remain limited, with two-thirds of Ugandans working for themselves or doing family-based agricultural work. REBECCA TAPSCOTT, Lecturer, University of York ANNA MACDONALD, Associate Professor, Global Development, University of East Anglia Yet, young people in Uganda haven’t coalesced as an electoral bloc. This is despite the emergence of a presidential candidate who champions youth issues.…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Black November: remembering Uganda’s massacre of the opposition three years on

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NOVEMBER marks a sombre anniversary in Uganda’s recent political history. In 2020, the East African country’s leading opposition politician, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, was arrested. He was on the campaign trail ahead of the 2021 presidential elections. LUKE MELCHIORRE, Associate Professor, Political Science and Global Studies, Universidad de los Andes Mass demonstrations demanding the release of the popular musician-turned-presidential candidate broke out in and around the capital, Kampala. Over two days, security agents of the regime of Yoweri Museveni – in power since 1986 – cracked down on the protests. They fired live ammunition into crowds of protesters, killing…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

Uganda vows to track down killers of tour guide, honeymoon couple

NEWS

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni vowed that Ugandan forces would track down those responsible for the deaths of a safari guide and two foreign tourists who were honeymooning in a national park. Ugandan authorities have accused the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) of killing the couple, a South African and a British national, and their Ugandan guide on Tuesday evening near the Queen Elizabeth National Park. The ADF, which began as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo since the late 1990s, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State four years ago. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

Uganda opposition says leader detained at airport, police dispute claim

NEWS

UGANDA'S main opposition party said its leader Bobi Wine had been detained at the airport as he returned from a trip abroad, but police said they had accompanied him to his residence. In recent years Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has emerged as the strongest challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has been in power in the East African country since 1986. Wine finished runner-up to Museveni in a 2021 election that he said was marred by fraud. Museveni's government has faced criticism from opponents and human rights activists for stifling the opposition, a charge Museveni denies.…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

Ugandan court moves toward hearing challenge to anti-gay law

NEWS

UGANDA'S Constitutional Court took a first step toward hearing a challenge to an anti-gay law that rights activists and Western governments have denounced as draconian. The Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May, is one of the world's harshest anti-gay laws and punishes some same-sex acts with the death penalty. Lawyers in the case met before the court registrar and agreed to reconvene on October 12, when the matter will be forwarded to the court's judges to set a hearing date, Nicholas Opiyo, an attorney for the organisations contesting the law, told reporters. "Our prayer is that…

Jul

2023

By ELIAS BIRYABAREMA

Uganda president says ex-Congo leader gave sanctuary to Islamist rebels

NEWS

UGANDA'S President Yoweri has accused a former leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, of giving sanctuary to Islamist fighters and allowing them to exploit minerals and timber and use the proceeds to build their strength. A former Uganda-based rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) in 2019, has been operating in the jungles of the east of neighbouring Congo for years, carrying out killings of both civilians and security personnel. Last month, fighters from the group crossed the border into Uganda, stormed a secondary school and massacred 42 people, mostly students.…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Ugandan church waged rebellion against tradition – today’s homophobic views are at odds with history

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ON 26 May Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni assented to the “anti-homosexuality bill” of 2023. The bill’s aim is to protect the “cherished culture of the people of Uganda, (and the) legal, religious, and traditional family values of Ugandans”. In the name of family values the law punishes “serial offenders” with the death penalty. Author DEREK R. PETERSON, Professor of History and African Studies, University of Michigan The Church of Uganda’s archbishop, Stephen Kaziimba, has supported the bill, and when it was signed he expressed his church’s gratitude to the president. Anita Among, the speaker of parliament, celebrated the new law’s…