{UAH} The “people’s president” is jailed | The Economist

Mr Besigye has been charged with treason before, in 2005. That case dragged on for five years before charges were dropped. Treason is a capital offence, but the state doesn't expect a conviction, says Peter Magelah, a lawyer at Chapter Four, a human-rights group in Kampala. The aim is to keep Mr Besigye off the streets.

Such repression is not new, says Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a Ugandan political analyst. He thinks that tempers may cool now the election has passed. But some analysts detect a hardening mood in the cities. People are chafing under the most restrictive political climate in a decade. Recent laws give police wide powers to halt public gatherings and shut down civil-society groups. The resurgence of Mr Besigye—who just a year ago seemed a spent force—has worried the regime.

Yet for all Mr Besigye's charisma, the threat from the opposition is limited. It is poorly organised and weakly represented in parliament. That makes it easier for Mr Museveni, who is now 71, to remove a constitutional restriction forbidding presidential candidates who are over the age of 75. That would allow him to run again in 2021.

Though Western donors tut about civil liberties, Mr Museveni can afford to ignore them if, as he hopes, oil starts to flow in a few years. He was always suspicious of political competition, which he blames for Uganda's violent past, and sees less reason than ever to change course.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21699174-yoweri-museveni-clamps-down-opposition-peoples-president-jailed

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Brian M. Kwesiga