Museveni is 3rd in ‘worst of the worst’ tyrants list
By Timothy Nsubuga
19th Sept 2011:
Museveni: Third worst tyrant in the world?
Foreign Policy magazine, a global publication that predominantly concerns itself with international affairs has published a list of the world’s ‘worst of the worst’ dictators and or tyrants in which our very own President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is named as the third worst dictator on planet earth.
The list, compiled by respected Ghanian Professor George BN Ayittey, was published by Foreign Policy on 9th September 2011. Born in 1945, Prof. George Ayittey is the President of the Free Africa Foundation based in Washington DC. He is also a Professor at the American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Professor Ayittey has championed the argument that Africa is poor because it is not free and that the primary cause of African poverty is less a result of the oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers, but rather a result of modern oppressive native autocrats. In awarding President Museveni the “Bronze Medal” of tyranny and autocracy”, Professor Ayittey said:
“…Back in 1986, when he led a rebel insurgency to overthrow strongman Milton Obote, Yoweri Museveni ebulliently declared: “No African Head of State should be in power for more than 10 years”. Twenty-five years later, he is still there. His credibility in tatters, this coconut-head won re-election in February with 68 percent of the vote in a stolen election.
The electoral commission was packed with the same men who ensured Museveni’s victory in previous elections. In 2005, Museveni had constitutional term limits abolished completely in a sham referendum, meaning he could run for president for life. There are also suspicions that the president is grooming his son, 36-year-old Lt. Col. Muhoozi Keinerugaba, to succeed him.
In June, [April, Ed] Uganda’s main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, called on his supporters to ‘walk-to-work’ to protest the high cost of transportation. The protest was over an economic issue, not a political one. But the ever-paranoid government security forces saw it differently. Describing it as “an act of terrorism”, they sprang into action, beating, tear-gassing, and hauling Besigye to jail”.
But perhaps as expected, President Museveni himself, even without objective evidence, vehemently denies any reference to him as dictator, tyrant, or autocrat. Indeed, during a television interview with NTV-Kenya shortly after Dr. Besigye’s violent arrest, Museveni audaciously claimed that “…Uganda is the most democratic country in the world”.
The top “Gold Medal” slot on Prof George Ayittey’s list of ‘the worst of the worst’ dictators was however won by Sudanese President Gen. Omar Al-Bashir. Following General Omar Al-Bashir in hot pursuit was Iranian strongman President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was named second [“Silver Medallist”] in ‘the worst of the worst’ dictators list.
Other “coconut heads” [as Prof Ayittey calls them] on the list or shame were Cuban President Raul Castro [who took forth position], President Paul Biya of Cameroon [who took fifth position], and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea who took sixth position. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
