While the rest of the world is focused on the current pandemic and the American Presidential debacle, many parts of the world are wrestling with these issues without even any recognition of their basic human rights. Ugandan political leader, Henry Tumukunde launched his campaign to become President of his country on August 12th and was immediately arrested for treason by the current government.  The Ugandan campaign is underway with the vote in early 2021.  The current government has been in power since 1986.

Uganda came out of a civil war that saw the defeat of the notorious Idi Amin, only to find itself in the hands of another ruthless dictator.

In this month’s Maclean’s, journalist Terry Glavin (https://www.macleans.ca/politics/this-year-has-taught-us-that-democracy-is-not-unshakeable/) writes about how governments particularly in Africa but also around the world are subverting election term limits for leaders in order to hang on to power. Glavin writes that the abolition of term limits and the descent into despotism is rife throughout Africa. Russia as well as Turkey, Nicaragua and others all utilized this ploy to establish their dictatorships.

The next step for these autocracies is control of the media.  It is only by shining the light of a free press on the struggles of these nations, that they have any hope of driving these nefarious gangsters into the darkened corners where they first emerged.  At Jesson we take the plight of all these African nations – not only Uganda, but the situation in Ethiopia and others to heart.  As a part of our commitment we are using our skills to try to ensure that North American media watches Mr. Tumukunde’s campaign and the elections in Uganda very closely.