Uganda main opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, has remained under house arrest days after the sitting president, Yoweri Museveni, was declared winner of the country’s presidential election.
The military bisieged Bobi Wine’s home jumping over his fence shortly after he cast his ballot in Thursday’s presidential elections. His home has remained surrounded by the military till date as he now says his life and those of his family are not safe.
The incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, 76, who has been in power since 1986, was declared the winner of the poll with 59% of the vote against Wine’s 35% in an election that Wine says was fraudulent and rigged.
Uganda Accuses US of Subversion
The Ugandan government has accused the US of trying to subvert last week’s presidential elections after the US ambassador attempted to visit an opposition leader, Bobi Wine, being held under house arrest.
The US ambassador, Natalie E Brown, was stopped from visiting Wine at his home in a suburb in the northern outskirts of the capital, Kampala, the embassy said in a statement late on Monday.
The mission said Brown wanted to check on his “health and safety”.
The Ugandan government disagrees with the US. Uganda’s Presidential Media spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo believes the US intended to interfere with the country’s internal affairs.
“What she has been trying to do blatantly is to meddle in Uganda’s internal politics, particularly elections, to subvert our elections and the will of the people,” he said. “She shouldn’t do anything outside the diplomatic norms.”
Brown had a track record of causing trouble in countries where she has worked in the past, Opondo claimed, adding that the government was watching her.
There was no immediate comment from Brown or the embassy. The embassy has said last week’s vote was tainted by harassment of opposition candidates, suppression of the media and rights advocates and a nationwide internet shutdown.
“These unlawful actions and the effective house arrest of a presidential candidate continue a worrying trend on the course of Uganda’s democracy,” it said.
The US and EU did not send observer missions for the polls because Ugandan authorities denied accreditation and had failed to implement recommendations by past missions.
