Nyaserere

On a bitter cold winter evening 4 years ago, I met Jacob in Minneapolis. We were both attending a party to welcome a human rights lawyer visiting from Zimbabwe. Jacob likes to tell the story a little different than me, adding something about my curious dance moves, but regardless of what may or may not haven been the impetus for our first conversation, we became fast friends. Jacob was attending the University of Minnesota for a Master's in human rights law, and at the time, I was interning at the human rights center in the university's law school. He was visiting from Eastern Uganda, where I was heading for the first time later that year. Shortly after our first encounter, he began slowly preparing me for his native culture and cuisine. Each week, we would meet up for lunch at an East African restaurant, Tam Tam ("Sweet Sweet" in Swahili), hidden near the seven-corners district of the university. What I remember most about our early friendship was his unbelievable stories.

When Jacob was in primary school, he had to perform manual labor around his village in order to pay for his school fees, including his entrance exam for secondary school (which is not free in Uganda). When his headmaster had pocketed the money instead of offering entrance exams to the students, a young Jacob Oboth-Oboth organized them in protest. He was punished as a rabble-rouser, unable to return to school until a later date when the headmaster finally decided to hold the exams. On the morning of his entrance test for secondary school, Jacob had to carry his own desk several kilometers and was confined to a tiny space while taking it. Despite it all, he still achieved one of the highest scores in his district, and through the generosity of a missionary family, he eventually got the education he had worked so hard to receive.

For the past several years, Jacob has been an attorney representing the Ugandan government in its Eastern districts. Today, however, he has given up his legal practice and is campaigning to be a member of parliament. The same disdain that he had for injustice as a child has lead him to choose a life in politics. And just as he struggled against corruption to have the opportunity to learn, he is now facing some of the most blatant fraudulence in his pursuit to be a leader for his community. His opponent, Dr. Otaala, is a high ranking minister in Museveni's cabinet, and well known for misappropriating funds. During the multiple poorly regulated primary elections for the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), Jacob had received a court injunction to prevent certain districts from being included in the vote because Dr. Otaala's campaign had greatly inflated the voter registry. The NRM electoral commission defied the courts and permitted a very large amount of mythical votes to count towards the Minister, giving him the nomination.

Violence has also crept into the election. A couple of months ago, a university student from Jacob's campaign was photographing Dr. Otaala handing out money to potential voters as well as using government vehicles while conducting his rallies, which is illegal. Dr. Otaala saw the student taking pictures, seized him, and threw the camera away. He then withdrew a pistol from his coat, aimed it at the student, and just before he could fire it, his body guard grabbed his arm while two shots were fired into the air. A mob of Otaala's supporters then pounced on the student, injuring his kidneys and forcing him to spend a week in the hospital. This was all reported in the newspapers, criminal charges have been filed against the Minister, and yet he is still running his campaign as normal. The only explanation that I get for this kind of impunity, "He has lots of powerful friends after lots of years in government."

Despite losing the NRM nomination, Jacob has decided to run as an independent candidate. Last weekend, John, Meredith, and I visited him at his home in Tororo. Between his non-stop meetings, he found some time to update us on his campaign and even showed us the video footage from the day he signed his nomination papers. The streets of his home town were flooded with people shouting his slogan, "Me Ahongo" ("The Time is Now"). President Museveni, despite being NRM, has decided to give his support to both candidates. Jacob has also received a nickname, Nyaserere, which is a type of genetically modified cassava. As Jacob explains, "It's a new breed, that's easier for people to cook, it yields faster, and is weather resistant." Now on the side of his campaign posters, next to his portrait, there is the outline of a thin Nyaserere tree.