The people of Uganda have spoken – President Kenyatta

President Uhuru Kenyatta was among the first Heads of State to send a congratulatory message to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni following his announcement as winner of the 216 presidential elections.

In his message, President Kenyatta stated that he respects the choice of the people of Uganda to elect Yoweri Museveni for a fifth term saying Kenya will continue its close working relation with Uganda.

“I am very pleased to congratulate His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni in his re-election as President of the Republic of Uganda,” read the statement in part.

“The people of Uganda have spoken, and they have spoken very clearly. We respect their choice of President Museveni.”

Kenyatta stated that Kenya values its close friendship with Uganda, which is founded on common history, common culture and common interests.

“In years past we have worked closely together for the prosperity and freedom of our nations. We look forward to continuing the work that both our nations have already done, together and in concert with the East Africa Community, the African Union and IGAD,” said the president.

“I wish President Museveni well as he serves his nation for another term. He and Uganda can count on my support and my friendship, as well as that of their brothers and sisters in Kenya.”

The president’s congratulatory message has however elicited sharp criticism among majority of Kenyans, most of who took to Uhuru’s Facebook and Twitter messages to express their displeasure.

Museveni was announced winner of the hotly contested presidential elections beating his closest rival Kizza Besigye of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) by 2.3 million votes.

In the announcement made by the Electoral Commission chair Badru Kiggundu on Saturday, Museveni beat seven other presidential candidates to win the seat with 5,617.503 million votes translating to 60.75 per cent. Kizza Besigye was second garnering 3,270,290 (35.37 per cent) while former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi managed a paltry 132,574 votes (1.43 percent).

At the time of the announcement of results, both Besigye and Mbabazi were under house arrest with the country’s Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda saying the move was temporary and had been necessitated by the need to restrict their movements.

Besigye has however rejected the results calling on Ugandans to sabotage government operations.

“I ask them to cease cooperating with the regime. Democracy is the only path to peace and prosperity and to the rule of law. Remain vigilant and steadfast,” Besigye is quoted as saying.

“Let us have the strength and the courage to finish the struggle. I know deep in my heart that Uganda shall be free. Struggle is long and hard but in the end we shall win if we continue in our patient and steadfast resolve.”

Mbabazi on his part said the elections were unfavourable from the world go, adding that there was no level playing ground.

The just concluded Uganda presidential elections have been marred by cases of intimidation and election malpractices according to European Union observers, putting into question its credibility and transparency.

The decision to block social media on Election Day added to overall uncertainty.

The observers also hit out at the EC for failing to communicate steps that would have been needed to overcome growing tension, saying the commission did not seemingly learn from the flaws of the 2011 elections.

The mission also stated that there should be a distinction between government and political parties when it comes to using state resources to encourage fairness in elections.

The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISDA), AU, IGAD and Commonwealth observers also admitted that there were challenges during the elections while congratulating Ugandans for their resilience to exercise their democratic right.

EISDA head of delegation Rupia Banda said the 2016 elections took part against a backdrop of incidents of violence and intimidation saying senior members of the police and army made partisan statements that impacted negatively on public confidence.

The former Zambian President also pointed out that state-owned media favoured Museveni’s NRM with most privately owned outlets making attempts to cover every candidate fairly.

@benjaminwafula