Scholars have defined political opportunism as aiming to increase one’s political influence at any price, or a political style that involves seizing every opportunity to extend political influence, whenever such opportunities arise. Typically, opportunist political behaviour is criticised for being short-sighted or narrow-minded. However, most politicians, especially those in developing countries like Uganda, have no sense of shame to grab any opportunity to make both short- and long-term gains.
As they say, wonders never cease to happen, especially in Uganda. Why on earth would a presidential candidate like Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP) spend most of his time discrediting the Electoral Commission (EC), a body mandated by law to organise an election where he is a participant?
Mr Kyagulanyi has made many statements to the effect that the EC, chaired by Justice Simon Byabakama, is up to mischief come January 15. What is ironic, though, is that Mr Kyagulanyi, like most of his supporters at the parliamentary and local council, have registered to participate in the elections and without a doubt they expect a free and fair outcome. This, in my view, is sheer opportunism and blackmail.
The very EC NUP leadership is now discrediting is the same election body that declared 57 Members of Parliament in their favour in the 2021 General Election, making them the biggest Opposition party in Uganda. It is the same EC that announced Mr Kyagulanyi’s legitimately earned votes of 3.6 million in the same election. One wonders why this same body is now under such attacks. Of course, all these attacks are calculated attempts to malign EC as an independent arbiter, such that in the event results are not in their favour, they will cry foul and say we saw it coming.
The EC is a credible arbiter; the reason hundreds of thousands from all political parties are running as independent candidates after they were not satisfied with the results in their party primaries. Ugandans might look naïve and gullible, but what is very clear is that they are not that daft, like some of our political actors tend to think. They have rejected such parochial attempts by their leaders every now and then and who selfishly want to mislead them. NUP should know that elections are not a zero-sum game.
Irrespective of our political affiliations, we must tolerate each other and live and work together and trust institutions mandated to do their work. Mistrust and incitement are clear ways of inviting anarchy, where everybody is a loser. Mature politics calls for respect for the institutions mandated to play certain roles in the critical role of general elections. Political tolerance and respect, among other things, call for the willingness to extend basic civility and respect to persons and institutions that play different roles in this exercise. It is a central tenet of a liberal democracy. This respect applies to either group..the political players and the various institutions mandated to manage this exercise.
Therefore, for NUP to continue casting doubt on the impartiality of the EC call is not only politically absurd but equally dangerous. The EC has done everything possible in openness, including but not limited to the following; open registration of all eligible voters, open display of all the registered voters and displayed them all parishes in Uganda, brought in biometric machines to be used during elections in order to curb multiple voting during election day and, open voting and tallying that will be done on each polling stations.
These, on top of many other mitigating procedures that are meant to deliver a free and fair election. Of course, building and maintaining faith in democratic institutions is a crucial and ongoing global challenge, requiring concerted efforts from both citizens and governments. Therefore, the need to exercise caution and maturity in such circumstances is what is needed. Finally, NUP and its leadership had better realise that all attempts to blackmail the EC in this exercise are attempts in vain. What is interesting is that the majority of NUP supporters and participants are very reasonable Ugandans and have total faith in the EC. This explains the reason they have participated in large numbers.