Open Letter: To Those Who Win Elections the Wrong Way—And Those Who Help Them Do It

Uganda Today: Open Letter: To Those Who Win Elections the Wrong Way—And Those Who Help Them Do It

By a Concerned Citizen, A Believer in Justice, A Witness to History

As Uganda irreversibly strolls towards yet another season of electoral politics, many citizens find themselves gripped not by hope, but by heartbreak. The ongoing Special Interest Group (SIG) elections, designed to give voice to marginalized communities, have instead exposed a disturbing erosion of democratic integrity. Credible reports indicate that the Uganda Police Force and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) were deployed not to protect the electoral process—but to interfere with it.

In districts across Buganda and beyond, opposition youth were reportedly beaten, arrested, and intimidated. Electoral officials, some under duress, allegedly declared the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) victorious even before proper vote tallies could be concluded. These events, viewed in the context of the just-concluded NRM primary elections—which left unofficial number of 19 Ugandans dead in widespread violence—paint a troubling picture of state-sponsored manipulation.

In light of these developments, a reflective and emotional open letter has emerged, addressed not just to the so-called victors, but also to those who enable them—willingly or by silence.

In Namisindwa even little children were lined up as voters in NRM internal elections for flag bearers at different levels of leadership. Watch video below.

Dear Winners—and Those Who Make Winning Wrongly Possible,

Let us not begin with insults, but with reflection.

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You may call yourselves victors, strategists, kingmakers, or loyal foot soldiers. Some of you act in broad daylight, using the muscle of state power, security forces, or party machinery to tilt the electoral scales. Others operate in the shadows—crafting fake registers, conjuring ghost voters, bribing officials, or silently inflating numbers.

You smile, thinking no one sees. But history sees everything. It has the eyes of an eagle and the memory of an elephant. When you help steal an election—whether by intimidation, forgery, or violence—you are not winning. You are burning your country with your own hands.

Whether you are a presiding officer who altered results, a military commander who deployed troops to threaten voters, a party official who cooked figures, or an intellectual who chose silence over truth in the name of “strategy”—you are not smart. You are not strong. You are not loyal. You are a traitor to your nation. You are a danger to your own children.

You may win today, but you will not escape tomorrow. Across the globe, many who thought they were too clever to face justice were eventually unmasked. Some fell from high political offices. Others languish in prison. And many live under the worst punishment of all—the eternal shame of having helped destroy the very country they claimed to love.

Learn from History

In Kenya (2007), vote rigging triggered a national bloodbath—over 1,000 people died, and thousands were displaced. Today, those who enabled that horror either live in regret or remain haunted by their silence.

In Venezuela, repeated election rigging destroyed an economy, forcing even those who once benefitted to flee a country they helped ruin.

In Belarus, the election thieves still cling to power—but in fear. Their days are not defined by leadership, but by anxiety and the need to suppress dissent just to stay afloat.

Even here in Uganda, stolen elections have never delivered peace or prosperity. Instead, they have brought us bitterness, exile, economic ruin, and cycles of revenge. Look around. Are we safer? Are we richer? Are we better off? Or are we all just hostages of a broken system?

The Cost of Complicity

If you help rig an election, you are not helping your tribe, your party, or your president. You are helping injustice—and injustice always returns. Sometimes in silence, sometimes in fire.

It may come for you not in uniform or with sirens—but through broken systems. It may find your child in a crumbling school. Your mother in a hospital with no medicine. Your vehicle stuck on unpaved roads. Your daughter robbed by those born into poverty you helped perpetuate. Your village submerged in floods because the roads were never built.

It may even find you, alone in a guarded mansion, surrounded by walls—but no peace.

What Legacy Will You Leave?

Do you want to be remembered as the one who “fixed” the vote, who “handled the situation,” who “kept quiet because the system favored us”?

Or do you want to be remembered as one who stood for truth—even when it was dangerous?

Redemption is possible. Speak up. Apologize. Correct your wrongs. Even history forgives those who repent.

But for those still plotting evil, remember: even the devil thought himself clever. Look where that led him.

Democracy is not a game. It is a sacred trust. When we betray it, we are not just cheating candidates—we are cheating our children, our communities, and the future itself.

Let us not leave behind a nation where our grandchildren must fight the very monsters we were too spineless to confront.

With Conviction,

A Concerned Citizen
A Believer in Justice
A Witness to History

#UgandaElections2025 #SIGViolence #NRMPrimaries #ElectoralJusticeUG #DemocracyUnderSiege #UgandaYouthVotes #JusticeForAll

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