Uhuru, Mugabe to attend Museveni’s inauguration for sixth term
President Uhuru Kenyatta is among 16 Heads of State expected to attend the swearing in of Uganda’s re-elected President Yoweri Museveni.
President Museveni, who has been in power for three decades, is set to take oath for a sixth consecutive five year term.
The inauguration will take place on Thursday at the Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala.
Other African leaders expected to attend the event are Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), John Pombe Maghufuli (Tanzania), Teodoro Obiang (Equatorial Guinea), Jacob Zuma (South Africa), King Lestlie of Lesotho and Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, the Prime Minister of Swaziland.
OPPOSITION PROTESTS
The ceremony will be held amid protests led by senior opposition leaders including Kiiza Besigye, who is leading a movement dubbed the “defiance campaign” to protest over the what he claims was a rigged election.
The country’s electoral commission maintains President Museveni was re-elected by more than 60 per cent
The Uganda Government has responded to the protests by clamping down on the opposition figures through numerous arrests and the continuous detention of Mr Besigye at his home in Kasangati, Kampala.
The country’s Minister for Information Jim Muhwezi has also ordered mainstream media not to televise the protests by opposition.
President Kenyatta was the first Head of State to congratulate Museveni upon his re-election, a move that elicited criticism from Kenyans on social media.
WARM RELATIONS
President Kenyatta and President Museveni have enjoyed warm relations since the Kenyan leader assumed power in 2013.
The Ugandan President has continuously supported Jubilee coalition leaders during their trial for charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.
Deputy President William Ruto reciprocated by campaigning for President Museveni in the run up to Uganda’s general election in March 2016.
Not even a dishonored Memorandum of Understanding by the Ugandan Government to build an oil pipeline from Hoima to Mombasa seems to have slowed down the relations between Nairobi and Kampala.
