Today, 23 February, Ugandans went to the polls in the country's first multi-party elections in 26 years--and certainly the first free and fair elections since Independence, and potentially before. The BBC reports that the voting appeared to be both free and fair. However, the run-up to the election has been full of excitement. President Museveni's main rival, Dr. Kizza Bessigye, returned from exile in South Africa (to which he had fled following the last elections, in fear for his life and liberty) to be charged with rape and treason--a blatant attempt by Museveni to disqualify Bessigye and keep him from contesting the election. The results of the election are expected to be announced in the next few days.
The significance of this in the TJ context is enormous: this election gives Ugandans the chance to experience democracy, something they simply haven't had. Uganda was a British colony until 1962, when the British appointed Milton Obote to run the country. Since that time, every leader has either seized control of the government by military coup, or been elected in elections that were neither free or fair.
Nat J. Coletta has written of the "sacred trilogy" of transitional justice: 1. security and good governance, 2. the restoration of social captial, and 3. macro-economic reform. If, beginning with this election, Ugandans can get a firm hold on issues of security and good governance, it stands to reason that the others might just follow.
See Nat J. Coletta, Demilitarization, Demobilization, and the Social and Economic Integration of Ex-combatants. Washington: USAID Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, 1997.
Comments