Uganda's 80-year-old president in bid to extend 40-year rule
In his acceptance speech, Museveni said that he had responded to the call and, if elected, would press ahead with his mission to turn Uganda into a "high middle income country".
Museveni's critics say he has ruled with an iron hand since he seized power as a rebel leader in 1986.
He has won every election held since then, and the constitution has been amended twice to remove age and term limits to allow him remain in office.
Pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine is expected to be Museveni's main challenger in the election scheduled for next January.
Wine told the BBC in April that he would run against Museveni if he was nominated by his party, the National Unity Platform, but it was getting "tougher" to be in opposition because of growing state repression.
"Being in the opposition in Uganda means being labelled a terrorist," he said.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, lost the last election in 2021 to Museveni by 35% to 59% in a poll marred by allegations of rigging and a crackdown on the opposition.
Another prominent opposition politician, Kizza Besigye, has been in detention since November after being accused of treason. He denies the allegation, saying his arrest is political.
In his acceptance speech at the National Resistance Movement (NRM) conference on Saturday, Museveni said that he had brought about stability and progress in Uganda.
He said it was crucial that Uganda did not "miss the bus of history as happened in the past when Europe transformed and Africa stagnated and was enslaved".
Museveni added that he wanted Uganda to take a "qualitative leap", and become a "high upper middle income country".
"Other countries in Asia with less natural resources, did it. We can do it," he added.
Are East African governments uniting to silence dissent?
How Besigye disappeared in Kenya and ended up in military court
How an ex-rebel has stayed in power
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Focus on Africa
This Is Africa
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
22 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
The Lure of Comrade Mamdani
As he led a guerrilla war to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Bastista in 1958, Fidel Castro promised Cubans that he was staunchly anticommunist and pro-free-speech. Once Batista was gone, Castro said Cuba would hold elections. Argentina's Juan Perón wasn't much different. Before he was first elected in 1946, the strongman said democracy must 'serve the people.' As a candidate for president of Venezuela in 1998, Hugo Chávez framed himself as democrat. All three socialists lied. They were extremists all along. The lesson is that communists and fascists, whom F.A. Hayek called members of 'rival socialist factions,' will say anything to get into power and do anything to stay there.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Armed gang attacks Kenya Human Rights Commission on eve of protests
An armed gang attacked the headquarters of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission on Sunday as it hosted a press conference calling for an end to state violence, an AFP journalist saw. The attack came on the eve of "Saba Saba Day" when Kenyans mark pro-democracy protests from the 1990s, and renewed unrest is expected on Monday. The east African country is once again facing a wave of violent protests over economic stagnation, corruption and repeated acts of police brutality under President William Ruto. The Kenyan Human Rights Commission was hosting a press conference calling for "an immediate end to arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings" when it was attacked by 20 men, some armed with sticks. "The gate was locked but they forced themselves in. They were attacking and robbing guys, saying: 'You are planning protests here'," said an AFP journalist at the scene. "Armed goons have attacked offices of the Kenya Human Rights Commission," the Women's Collective, which helped organise the meeting, posted on X. At least 19 people were killed and thousands of businesses looted and destroyed in a day of nationwide protests on June 25. The government has been accused of deploying "goons" against protesters and political opponents. Hundreds of men on motorbikes armed with whips and clubs attacked a protest against police brutality in Nairobi on June 17. AFP journalists at the scene said they were operating with the protection of police. - 'Kenya feels fragile' - Urbanisation, improved education and the spread of social media have fuelled anger over the stagnant economy and poor governance in a country where around 80 percent are trapped in informal, poorly paid jobs. "Kenya feels much more fragile than it would have four or even three years ago," said Declan Galvin, Kenya-based analyst with Exigent Risk Advisory. "We have a much larger, urban, mainly youth population, who do not rely on ethnicity and tribalism" as they did in the past, he told AFP. Politically, Ruto still holds a strong position, having forged an alliance with the main opposition leader Raila Odinga, leaving no clear challenger ahead of the next vote in 2027. But each violent crackdown is fuelling further unrest, said activist Nerima Wako. "Every time people organise a protest, they kill more people, so it just continues to feed off itself," she said. Saba Saba Day marks the uprising on July 7, 1990 when Kenyans demanded a return to multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-president Daniel arap Moi. Ruto cut his teeth as a youth organiser for Moi when those protests were violently suppressed. His government "seems to be trying to repeat the nineties, but we are not in the nineties," said Gabrielle Lynch, an African politics expert at Britain's University of Warwick. "They don't seem to have realised that the world is different. People are more politically aware, but also the communication environment has dramatically changed with the rise of social media," she added. "People don't have the same in-built fear of the state." bur-er/cw
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's 'America Party' reportedly registers with Election Commission
Elon Musk's 'America Party' reportedly registers with Election Commission originally appeared on TheStreet. It's been a few days since Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who once supported cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, has been talking about launching a new political party in the U.S. Reportedly, it turns out that the political outfit has officially registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Called 'America Party (AMEP),' the new organization registered with the FEC on July 6 under Filing FEC-1898441 and FEC Committee ID-C00910323. The filing mentions the candidate's name as Elon Reeve Musk and says: This committee supports/opposes only one candidate and is NOT an Authorized Committee. AMEP's treasurer and custodian of records is Vaibhav Taneja, who is Tesla's chief financial supported Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election. Once he won the election, Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) from January to May under the Trump administration. Though the nomenclature led many to believe that the department would integrate Dogecoin payments, no such development took place. While both are among the most pro-crypto political and business figures, Trump's "big, beautiful bill" irked Musk so much that he openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the two-party system in the U.S. and said the country needed a new political party, which he has launched. The crypto community has been quick to react to the latest development. Popular Dogecoin team member, known as DogeDesigner or @cb_doge on X, confirmed the news and has been supporting Musk's political campaign. Pro-crypto attorney John Deaton, who challenged Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as a Republican candidate during the 2024 election, supported Musk's announcement of the party on July 5. Deaton also posted a short video of his debate with Warren in which he was seen lambasting the two-party system: "All of us suck in Congress... It's a broken system. I am disrupting that system." Though Deaton lost the election to Warren, he is supporting Musk's political challenge in the U.S. The total crypto market cap stood at $3.36 trillion at the time of writing. TheStreet Roundtable reached out to the FEC for a comment on the matter and has not received a response so far. We will update the story if and when the Commission responds. Elon Musk's 'America Party' reportedly registers with Election Commission first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
