Two men listen to the radio before the election.
KAMPALA, UGANDA – During the last few months, election fever whipped up waves of excitement all over Uganda – especially on its airwaves.
Judith Nabakooba works as a public relations officer for the Uganda Police Force. But in light of last week’s election, she took a break from her duties at the police station to release a song to promote a peaceful presidential vote in Uganda.
Her fast-paced, upbeat song, “Mukuume Edembe,” exhorted the public to keep peace where they live and work before, during and after the elections. In one version on TV, the following message flashed across the screen, followed by scenes of violence and brutality:
“This is not just another rap
… neda! (no)
This is a real hit …
With a serious message
To Ugandans!”
Its constant presence on the airwaves made it one of the most-listened-to songs during the recent election period, when many Ugandans like Nabakooba used the radio to promote a peaceful voting process.
Advocates say radio campaigns played a major role in helping Uganda execute a peaceful election last week by encouraging candidates and voters to avoid violence and bribery. Organizations throughout Uganda also urged local businesses to exert a positive influence on the election. While some doubted Uganda’s ability to conduct a fair and free election, others attributed the peaceful re-election of President Yoweri Museveni in large part to the radio campaigns promoting peace.
Uganda held its first general elections in 1962 after gaining its independence from Great Britain. Since then, there have been few fair and free elections. Since Museveni of the National Resistance Movement came to power in 1986, last week’s election marked only the second contest that permitted opposition parties to campaign, according to Human Rights Watch, HRW, an international human rights organization. In all, seven candidates ran against Museveni, with Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change party providing his main competition. State-orchestrated violence has also plagued past Ugandan elections, but just two days before the election, Museveni assured both the local and international communities that Uganda would not plunge into violence. The 2011 election season was peaceful, and many say radio played a large role.
In a country where radio still reigns, it proved a major campaign tool in this year’s election. Whereas campaigns used to be simple affairs, with party supporters handing out fliers, sticking up posters and waiting for their candidate to make a colorful appearance at a public rally, the build-up to this year’s general election showed that this is not enough anymore. Media campaigns erected huge billboards overnight, televised debates drew crowds at primetime and some candidates even released campaign songs, including Museveni’s hit single, “You Want Another Rap.”
Throughout the Ugandan countryside, where televisions are too expensive and electricity to run them is a novelty, millions of voters tuned in to local FM radio stations to listen to their candidates debate. Consequently, various organizations and key civil society players tapped into the popularity of the radio stations to promote a violence-free election through civic education campaigns.
Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda, CCEDU, a coalition of more than 500 organizations, ran civic education programs on 36 radio stations across the country to promote peace before, during and in the days after the election. Its campaign, called “Honor Your Vote,” strived to stave off political violence.
“Radio is a very powerful and expeditious tool,” says Gwanda Ogot, CCEDU’s project communications manager. “When we recall what happened in Rwanda in 1994 and also what followed in Kenya, then we must be very cautious.”
Violence ravaged both countries following disputes between competing ruling groups. Radio broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang is one of six Kenyans currently facing charges from the International Criminal Court for inciting the violence that led to the death of 1,300 Kenyans after its 2007 elections.
Other organizations, like International Alert, an independent peace-building organization that operates in more than 20 countries, used the radio to target the local business community, which has been known to have a hand in Ugandan politics. Louis Okello, International Alert’s project manager for northern Uganda, acknowledged that its use of local radio was part of a wider advocacy effort to build a peaceful economy through actively engaging the business community and private sector in consolidating peace.
“Experience around the world has shown that business leaders sponsor political candidates in anticipation of returns,” Okello says.
Okello says that although it has been alleged that some members of the Kenyan business community contributed to its post-election violence, a critical section of the same business community also played a positive, transformative role in urging the population to rise above tribal and sectarian sentiments that threatened to rip the country apart. He says radio campaigns aimed to encourage the Ugandan business community to follow the latter approach and positively influence the election.
James Shikwati, director of Inter Region Economic Network, an African think tank, says business interests in government tend to lead to violence in Africa.
“Business rivalry assumes a bloody touch in Africa, where institutions of governance are weak and the biggest customer is [the] government,” he says.
Shikwati says some businesses have discovered that their patronage and control of the political class can go further than offering efficiency and value.
“The quest to access and control [the] government then becomes a key survival strategy for businesses to such an extent that they can turn a peaceful country into a bloody theater of war,” he says.
Through the Northern Uganda Business Forum for Peace, an organization of businesses, International Alert sponsored radio campaigns to promote peaceful elections. Five major radio stations in greater northern Uganda – Mega FM, Radio Rupiny, Mighty Fire FM, Voice of Lango and Unity FM – aired 20 radio talk shows and 525 spot messages from December 2010 to January 2011 to urge politicians to refrain from violent or intimidating acts or language against their opponents and their opponents’ supporters during campaigns. The radio campaign also asked voters to exercise their constitutional rights to freely choose the candidate who best expressed their aspirations and priorities rather than accepting material benefits like alcohol, food and petty cash in exchange for their votes.
The programs also featured guest speakers from the Electoral Commission, representatives from civil society, resident district commissioners, the regional police commander for northern Uganda, community elders and religious leaders. Listeners also called in to comment and ask questions to edify their understanding of the electoral process.
Despite the many programs, messages and songs promoting peace, some say they still feel a strong mix of cynicism and apathy toward Uganda’s system of electoral governance.
“In this election, I have no interest in voting,” says Boniface, a young Ugandan who declined to give his full name for fear of retribution. “Politicians are only in it to serve their personal interests. After the election, they will forget us. And you see what happened in Ivory Coast? Presidents in power don’t want to relinquish their power.”
The Independent Electoral Commission in the Ivory Coast announced in December that the opposition candidate had won the election, but the incumbent president said the results were invalid. Both were sworn in separately and claim to be the president.
Boniface also criticized the political tradition of voter bribery.
“That is it!” Boniface says. “It’s like a national policy almost. It is survival – if you don’t give the people a coin, you won’t get the vote.”
Although violence didn’t mar Friday’s election, some have alleged that Museveni used public funds for his campaign, according to HRW.
The recent unrest in Egypt and Tunisia also caused anxiety in Uganda leading up to its elections. An increased number of policemen patrolled the streets, although they reported only minor altercations. Some anti-corruption advocates and journalists reported intimidation by police and resident district commissioners, but the election was peaceful overall, according to HRW.
Many attribute this to the concerted effort by various organizations to enlist local radio as a key tool to encourage candidates and citizens to interact peacefully in the election of a new president.
