Do I really want an Egypt-style uprising in Uganda?

Power to the Peaceful!

I liked what happened in Egypt and Tunisia.  The people rose up and overthrew dictators who have ruled for decades.  I am optimistic about their future and hope that true reform comes.

I am also very pleased to see what is happening in Bahrain, Libya, Algeria, and Yemen.

Power to the peaceful!

The oppositions parties in Uganda are promising Egypt style protests if the incumbent Yoweri Museveni wins the February 18th election to extend his twenty-five year reign.  They say they will protest only if the polls are rigged.

The polls will be rigged (by both sides).  I think that Museveni will "win".

So, according to the opposition parties, there will be an Egypt style uprising in Uganda.

There is a part of me that doesn't want this to happen.  I want Museveni to win and the people to accept it and get on with their lives.  Yes, that Museveni.

That Museveni who - according to Amnesty International - rose to power by:

• Using child soldiers
  
• Allowing his soldiers to commit hundreds of extra-judicial executions
  
• Burning Houses
  
• Torturing people

Amnesty International released a report in March 1989 that concluded:

Any assessment of the NRM government's human rights performance is, perhaps inevitably, less favourable after four years in power than it was in the early months. However, it is not true to say, as some critics and outside observers, that there has been a continuous slide back towards gross human rights abuse, that in some sense Uganda is fated to suffer at the hands of bad government.

Amnesty International's hope for a better Uganda proved to be well founded: Museveni is bad, but at least he is not as bad as Idi Amin.

So why would a part of me want such a man to remain in power?

Because everyone here at Meaningful Volunteer has worked so damned hard on our Ugandan programs!  And we don't need a revolution just now!

We want to build our solar-powered school!  We want to launch Mama Pamba!  We want to distribute mosquito nets as part of the Malaria Operation!  We want to educate!  And this just ain't gonna happen if a revolution unfolds.

And then I step back and a much louder piece of me says "No!".

Everyone stands to lose much in a revolution.  If the cost of true democratic rights in Uganda is me setting fire to the Meaningful Volunteer's Ugandan program, then hand me a match.