EDITORIAL: Restless youth? It’s about the economy, stupid

Bobi Wine leaving the Gulu military court where case against him was dropped only to be re-arrested by the police. PHOTO | NMG 

In Summary

• If one thing stood out about this saga, it was the almost universal solidarity of the youth with Mr Kyagulanyi, and Museveni’s subconscious realisation that he was dealing with a disgruntled youth population.

By The EastAfrican
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In January 1986, Uganda captured the imagination of the world when a ragtag army of rebels marched on Kampala after a five-year bush war.

Since then, few events have focused as much global attention on the country as the ongoing contest between President Yoweri Museveni, and musician-turned-legislator Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine.

In an unlikely climax to the battle for influence, Kyagulanyi was picked up by the military during a by-election in the northwestern town of Arua last week, battered and detained on charges of illegal possession of firearms.

The sight of him, unable to stand or support himself during a short appearance before a military tribunal in the garrison town of Gulu, also in northern Uganda, set off a chain reaction that has left analysts scrambling to explain the import of what is happening.

Besides street protests in Kampala and Nairobi as well as London, a global online campaign for his freedom had reached 12 million people within hours of its launch.

The online clamour was deafening, and the six missives that President Museveni penned in as many days to explain the events appeared to only fuel it further.

In an indication that he knew exactly whom he was dealing with, President Museveni addressed his writings to a group he loosely referred to as his “Abazukulu,” or grandchildren.

By Wednesday, the military that had earlier paraded guns it allegedly found in Kyagulanyi’s hotel room, had capitulated, handing him over to a civilian court where the gun possession charges were substituted by treason.

If one thing stood out about this saga, it was the almost universal solidarity of the youth with Mr Kyagulanyi, and Museveni’s subconscious realisation that he was dealing with a disgruntled youth population.

In a sense therefore, Kyagulanyi’s appeal to a global youth audience was not because he is a musician but rather because he represents their aspirations and frustrations with a moribund and disconnected status quo.

Across Africa, right from Tunisia where the Jasmine Revolution toppled one regime after another just under a decade ago, to Cape Town, youth are sitting on pent-up anger and disillusionment.

Underperforming economies combined with corruption and poor policies have stifled job creation. Youth unemployment is running above 50 per cent across most of the continent where the median age is just above 20.

Yet a largely octogenarian bureaucracy has responded in the only way it knows, clamping down on freedom of expression and association and legitimising its actions by getting rubberstamp parliaments to pass new laws.

Recent times have seen a raft of such laws that seek to limit or criminalise the use of popular tools of communication such as social media platforms. Uganda in particular, this year introduced so-called sin taxes on use of social media.

Yet as the #FreeBobiWine movement shows, it is going to take more than scare tactics to contain a determined youth.

Governments need to understand the economic undercurrents driving discontent, and come up with policies that open up and expand opportunities for the restless youth of the continent is to maintain social harmony.