It has now become common practice in Uganda that when a politician dies, someone from the deceased’s family is chosen to replace them.

This started as a vice but has now evolved into a common culture in Uganda’s politics that whenever there is any untimely death of a politician at any level, a relative takes the first priority to politically succeed them, which leaves a number of unanswered questions on whether it is the end of a beginning or the beginning of the end for political heirs in the succession politics of Uganda.

Gone are the days when Uganda’s politics were determined by the people’s choices. It is now no longer a habit but rather a culture that families now front their own relatives to the deceased politicians. This is especially the case in the event of death, and it is not a surprise that the replacements are tactically announced during funerals and even endorsed by the deceased’s respective political parties.

Are we sane? Why has the politics of Uganda been reduced to this extent of kinship?

Well, these have in most cases succeeded in garnering sympathy votes from the gullible voters because, at this point, the chances of a worthy opponent with a clear manifesto and ideas winning are actually reduced to slim as the chosen persons do not have to campaign with substance but rather shed tears.

Everyone, wherever they are, in your faith, should pray for the politics of Uganda. The state of democracy in Ugandan political parties is completely in question. In cases of the untimely deaths of politicians in Uganda, the political parties are no longer considering the due democratic process. Individuals are just handpicked based on sympathy.

This has been evident on several occasions, for example, during the Oyam North bye-election, where Samuel Okello Engola was just handpicked by the National Resistance Movement to replace his father, retired Colonel Charles Okello Engola, who was shot dead in May 2023 by his bodyguard, Private Wilson Sabiiti. This year, the Dokolo district woman MP seat fell vacant after the sudden death of Hon. Cecilia Ogwal, and the FDC party has handpicked Rosemary Alwoc Ogwal, a daughter of the fallen former Dokolo district woman MP. From Milton Obote to Miria Kalule Obote to Jimmy Akena Obote, the UPC (Uganda’s oldest political party) is a good example of political heirs in succession politics, and no wonder the successors can no longer hold the party together like Obote did with several disgruntled members, like Joseph Ochieno.

All this started with Proscovia Alengot Oromait, a 19-year-old who succeeded his father, Micheal Oromait, as the MP for Usuk County following his death.

Every concerned right-thinking Ugandan, the donor community, and civil society, among others, should play a key role in re-directing the democracy of Uganda. It is quite bad that the administration of the country has been reduced to kinship, and this is most likely to create a feeling of self-entitlement amongst deceased politicians families or even ethnic communities. More so, it does not reflect the real ideals of a democratic society.

Families and kinsmen/kinships should own no stake in the administration of the state. The practice despises the democratic levels of Uganda, which should be a worry for everybody. Political heirs have been a trend over the recent past for each and every bye-election in constituencies and local governments in Uganda, including the replacement of the late Speaker, Rt Hon. Jacob Oulanyah, in Omoro County in the Acholi sub-region.

This leaves serious concerns about whether it is the end of a beginning or the beginning of the end of the democratic values of political parties and Uganda’s democracy.