The Ugandan opposition’s “Walk to Work” campaign, which began in early April, has garnered a large amount of local and international support, largely as a result of the way in which the government has handled the protests. Instead of simply allowing the protests, which are focused on the high cost of food and transport, or exercising mild crowd control, the police and military have set out to crush protesters with violence and intimidation.
A large proportion of Ugandans who did not care to vote for opposition leader Kizza Besigye in the recent elections have been offended by the brutality with which he was arrested last week, with every step televised by the media. A police spokesman then compounded the public sentiment by issuing a statement about the arrest which was at variance with the scenes which everyone had witnessed on their TVs. Mr Besigye, who had been shot in the hand by police the previous week, remains seriously injured in a hospital in Nairobi.
The popular perception of the issues is not assisted by the government’s apparent intransigence. Instead of making a token effort to cut the price of food and fuel, and the Kenyan government has done, the Ugandan government has ignored the public disquiet, while at the same time approving expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars on military jets and more than a million dollars on the forthcoming inauguration of president Museveni.