Yet, as the military clamps down on ordinary Ugandans desperate for a political voice, and a choice for change, in the wake of an election that followed a typical authoritarian playbook, democracy still has an inestimable value.
The sight on social media of young Ugandans earnestly measuring out and marking the 20m election observers had to remain from their voting station in the bustling, low-income neighbourhood of Kibuye in Kampala, speaks to the different value Africans place in democracy.
Instead of a free choice, in the wake of the election on 15 January, Ugandans have reportedly received from the regime the mass arrest of opposition supporters, torture, the military invasion of the home of the main opposition candidate, and an internet shutdown.
In so doing, this explains precisely why more than two-thirds of Africans routinely polled prefer democracy to the alternative. In Uganda, the number is more than 80%.
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The reason for this is obvious. Whereas democracy is viewed as a given in some parts of the world, for most Africans it remains an ambition.
Freedom House calculates that 93% of Africans today live in authoritarian states.
The Uganda election offered a choice between two vastly different futures: one represented continuity in the form of the 81-year-old incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni, who seized power 40 years ago.
The other choice was for change, represented by the 43-year-old Bobi Wine, the popular name of the...
