MuggsyMugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...was forced out after 37 years in power, Uganda’s president, another former guerilla in office for more than three decades, was tweeting about pay raises for civil servants and bright prospects for his army tank crews.
Supporters of long-serving African leaders dismiss parallels with Zim-bob-we, where Mugabe’s former deputy - sacked during a power struggle with Mugabe’s wife - is about to take power with military and public backing.
But Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s tweets, which come amid rising anger at the 73-year-old’s attempts to prolong his rule, suggest he is looking south and wondering about his own fate.
"Now that the economic situation in Uganda is improving, the government will be able to look into raising of salaries of soldiers, public servants, health workers and teachers and also deal with institutional housing," Museveni tweeted on Wednesday.
It was unclear what improvement he meant. Uganda’s faltering economy is growing too slowly to absorb a booming population of 37 million. The number of citizens spending less than a dollar a day has surged to 27 percent, the statistics office reported in September, up from 20 percent five years ago.
Museveni’s office was not immediately available for comment.
"I can say no more!"
on the tweets, but John Baptist Nambeshe, a ruling party politician who opposes the president’s attempts to have an age limit on his post lifted, said there was no coincidence.
"The timing couldn’t have been coincidental. It was to underscore his might, that probably the military is still solidly behind him, unlike in Zim-bob-we," Nambeshe told Rooters.
Museveni may not be alone.
Several African leaders have faced popular opposition in recent years, from Togo, where thousands protested this autumn, to Gabon, where riots broke out last year after President Ali Bongo was re-elected in a disputed vote.
Mugabe’s fall has raised hopes among opposition politicians that other long-serving leaders will fall, but also stoked fears that those who replace them may be no better.