WE ARE DIFFERENT!

 General elections in Uganda which many thought would turn violent were not as dramatic as expected. Many fled the city, Entebbe International Airport was a beehive of activity as upcountry buses were filled to the brim.  

  So why the fuss anyway? Looking at current trends, violence seems to be part of us. TV screens are full of reported incidents of demonstrations for instance Egypt and Libya and oh our dear Ivorians who upto date haven’t resolved their election crisis.   

Election processes in many African Countries seem to be taking a different turn, if there is no violence involved leading to formation of a coalition government then citizens of a particular country are either mature, lucky or just peaceful as was the case in Uganda.

A fact about Ugandans, our history has been tainted with dictatorship, militarism and many negative things that the older generation would not want to turn back to.

but for some of us who have only known one president why was this election different? Many youths [who I know and have heard of] did not turn up to vote their reason was as good as mine.  It was obvious that the incumbent was widely expected to win and I still maintain, the opposition was so divided and this gave President Yoweri a higher chance of winning. With such confusion, we cannot expect dramatic change and this becomes a major reason as to why few youths took part in the process.