Museveni celebrates win with his cattle

Kampala. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni yesterday celebrated extending his three decades in power with a walk with his beloved cows, dismissing opposition claims of poll rigging and criticism by the international community.

Meanwhile, the East African Community (EAC) team that monitored last week’s General Election in Uganda yesterday advised the country to reintroduce presidential term limits.

The observer mission underscored the need for the country’s executive and legislature to reconsider the abolishment of term limits.

Speaking publicly for the first time since winning, Mr Museveni dismissed his opposition challengers as self-seekers.

“The opposition are not leaders, they are just demagogues, liars, just talking, talking,” the 71-year-old Museveni said in a speech broadcast from his home in western Uganda.

Pictures released by the government showed a relaxed Museveni walking with his long-horn cattle and chatting with their herders, wielding a stick and wearing his familiar wide-brimmed hat.

“I am very happy with Ugandans, they came out in big numbers and voted,” Mr Museveni added, warning against those who wished to cause violence through protests.

“We shall use both soft and hard means to guard the peace in Uganda... by soft means I mean talking to the youth, who these criminal politicians try to use,” he said. “But also we can use non-lethal but tough methods, to deal with any trouble makers.”

International observers raised concerns over the proceedings, saying that Uganda’s electoral commission lacked transparency and accusing the police of heavy-handed treatment of the opposition.

But President Museveni dismissed the criticism. “I don’t need lectures from anybody,” he said. “Those Europeans are not serious.”

While Mr Museveni succeeded in extending his rule of the east African country, over a dozen influential ministers lost their parliamentary seats.

“Anybody who is trying to challenge the results of this election must not be serious,” he added. “If anyone was rigging, why did we not rig in Kampala? Why did we agree to lose where we can rig? That’s rubbish.”

In its preliminary report released in Kampala late on Saturday, shortly after the presidential election results were announced, the EAC observer mission headed by Retired President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, recommended that the country should revert to term limits.

Uganda’s executive and legislature were also advised to consider the introduction of a legal framework that would regulate campaign financing as well as control the use of youth as a tool of political intimidation by political parties during the electoral process. It was further recommended that the country’s electoral commission, which has come under fierce criticism by the opposition, should be reformed to increase efficiency and improve identification procedures to enhance the credibility of the voter register.

President Museveni of the National Resistance Movement, who has been in power for 30 years, was on Saturday declared the winner of the presidential election after garnering 60.7 per cent of the vote to defeat seven other candidates.

His closest challenger was Dr Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change, who received 35.37 per cent of the vote.

Dr Besigye and the rest of the opposition candidates have dismissed the results as a “fraud”, saying the elections were not free and fair.

The EAC mission said last week’s elections were generally peaceful, but added that the electoral process needed to be improved significantly.

“The security environment for the electoral process was generally peaceful in spite of isolated incidents such as clashes between rival supporters, physical assault against individuals and candidates as well as the defacing of posters during campaigns,” the team said in its report.

However, youth groups allied to parties remained an issue of security concern.

Additional reporting by Zephania Ubwani and AFP