Fascists Always Cook Up Figures: If presidential elections can be rigged, what are mere opinion polls?

This week, an opinion poll conducted by Research World International, a local polling firm, on behalf of the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies, a local think-tank, suggested that if elections were to be held this year just before the outbreak of the Corona Virus, President Museveni would have been elected ahead of his main political rivals by 47{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe}.

The polling firm claims that the fieldwork was conducted in the second week of March and ended just before the country was locked down to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease. It also claims to have interviewed 2,321 respondents randomly selected across the country based on the 2014 census.

Now wait a minute! If this poll was indeed conducted before the lock-down, what stopped them from releasing the findings at that material time? How representative is this poll? How can two thousand people become a base for gauging the political views of the entire country of 40 million people (18 million voters)?

The biggest point to note here is that this poll was not conducted before the lockdown as they are suggesting because they know how much damage it has done to President Museveni and his cronies in NRM. Releasing a poll at this time was purposely for convenience; to paint a rosy picture of a fascist regime that has lost the necessary appeal to continue running the affairs of this country.

The immediate disclaimer that it was conducted before March is an acknowledgement that if the poll had been conducted today (August 2020), Museveni was not going to make 10{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} of the vote. In other words, the poll was serving a damage control purpose.

This is obviously because today, there is unanimous discontent around the country pertaining to the way the Ministry of Health officials and government in general have mishandled the fight against the Corona Virus.

The obvious swindling of resources and the deception that has been disseminated by the officials of the Covid-19 task force has left Ugandans with very little trust in the NRM government.

Malicious Museveni

Matters have been worsened by the insensitive way President Museveni handled the lockdown which has hardened the livelihoods of a large section of the population. He made so many sadistic statements which exposed him as a malicious leader with intentions of punishing Ugandans.

One time he was quoted saying, ‘I know there is no Corona Virus in Uganda but I am just trying to discipline these undisciplined Ugandans.’’

While our neighbours of Tanzania were saved from the lockdown by their President John Pombe Magufuli with more reasonable measures to avert the Corona Virus, President Museveni adopted very harsh restrictions which left the country in absolute suffocation.

What worsened matters was the fact that Uganda’s lockdown was not premised on the on-ground realities as the virus had not made any inroads in the country.

For instance, for the 120 days of the lockdown (from March to June 2020), there was no single Ugandan who had perished to the Corona Virus. Yet 80{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} of the population had been blocked from working. The entire country was questioning the rationality of the lockdown when there were no serious signs of the virus.

There was a clear perception that the Ugandan leadership was not in conformity with the expectations of the people. How can you stop your people from working for four months when you have no means of feeding them; then claim to retain support?

When the government tried to distribute food, they only concentrated on Kampala and Wakiso districts – even then, they failed to adequately feed all the needy Ugandans in those two respective districts. To make matters worse, they could only afford rotten beans full of stones together with substandard posho.

In fact, by June 2020, President Museveni’s approval ratings were known to suffer an all-time low. The general mood in the country was almost on the verge of a mass riot, forcing Museveni to relax some of the restrictions in July.

I think the opinion poll was designed to remind Ugandans that although the NRM had messed a lot during this Covid19 period, they were still under Gen Yoweri Museveni’s rule. In fact, if you objectively look at the political atmosphere in the country, the tide has tilted towards NUP, a new political party that was launched by famous musician Bobi Wine. As the 2021 elections fever heats up, almost all defections have been going to NUP.

In the recent few weeks many high calibre Politicians have defected from FDC, DP, and NRM and joined NUP.

Now, an opinion at this moment should have reflected the discontent in the country, but it has instead exposed the rigging tendencies associated with the NRM.

The Precedence

Ugandans are very familiar with what happens with opinion polls in the country.

In the days preceding the 2016 elections, an opinion poll was published in one of the dailies in the country. The publication gave President Museveni a doctored percentage of 75{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} which was a contradiction to the correct figures of the poll.

The media house fired the editor who doctored the poll stats. That editor was later made the press secretary to President Museveni; replacing the then famous but controversial press secretary Tamale Mirundi.

Fascist regimes like that of President Museveni thrive on propaganda and will do anything that projects their ‘superior’ approval ratings amongst the population. They have secretariats whose pre-occupation is to cook up figures regarding the growth of the economy and the general working ratios of the regime.

When it comes to elections, fascists have no shame at all. They amend results to project them as winners by over 90{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} of the vote.

Former Zairian president Marshal Joseph Mobutu and Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein enjoyed projecting a vote percentage of 99{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe}. Yet the manner in which they were kicked out of power doesn’t reflect the presumed support they projected to the world.

In the most recent years president Museveni has become one of the most terrible fascist leaders in the world. He has, in due course, been afflicted by the fascist tendencies of glamour and grandeur.

Although no street has been named after him and he doesn’t feature on the currency of the country, like all the other fascists, there are strong signs that he is heading in that direction as well.

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