Democracy is pretty overrated in non-functioning institutions especially in developing countries. Till a few years ago, I used to think that voting for a leader of your choice is so important, but the coming of Bobi Wine in our politics blew some of us apart.
Seeing the things, he’s doing now as the leader of the biggest opposition party and the kind of income at his exposal, makes you think, doesn’t it? Honestly, imagine such a guy with presidential powers? I’m sure a lot of those that disagree with him would be either dead, in prison or exile. I believe a lot of people voted for Museveni in the 2020-21 presidential elections because of the main candidate who was standing against him. They chose a benevolent dictator over someone with questionable character and a novice in politics.
Something that got me started thinking about this was all the nastiness that happened after the elections. There are a lot of people who were friends before elections, and apparently, they no longer speak with each other because of disagreements over politics. And to me, that’s just absurd.
In developed nations, democracy can give you a bad leader, but you get the chance to vote them out. This isn’t the case in most developing nations. The US, for instance, is a representative democracy with unique separation of powers and checks and balances and a goal of securing liberty for generations. Stability is a product of that. Smooth transitions of power have been a characteristic.
Honestly, I have always wanted Museveni out of power, and I really believed that something will happen that would see him out, till when I saw Bobi attacking various opposition leaders especially Kiiza Besigye.
Democracy is basically like a sharp fancy knife. In the hands of a good chef, it is a powerful tool a chef uses to slice and dice carrots in mere minutes.
In the hands of a dictator, it is used to control and harm others for personal gains and cause mayhem. However, sometimes a dictator may do things that develop a country.
In the hands of a novice or a fake politician, who thinks he or she is either a master chef or dictator, but lacks the skillset of either, it is a tool which causes self-harm and harming of those around you. Democracy in the hands of people who are not adequately educated or knowledgeable, it is a tool for disaster. Unfortunately, most of the population falls into the above category.
For the record, whatever is happening with Bobi and NUP now, I predicted it a few years ago before the elections.
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