This archive report was first published on 11 August 2019.
On July 31, 2019, Uganda's Attorney General tabled a Bill with amendments to the electoral process before parliament. The proposed changes sparked a heated debate over alleged satanic clauses, including barring political camps from making associations in campaign strategy for elections and allowing members of the armed forces to vote a week before the election date.
However, the Attorney General later swore that he knew nothing of the alleged clauses, and the government challenged anyone to show them the clauses. Despite the controversy, the clauses were never found, leading many to accuse a satan of being behind the false allegations.
But Uganda's satanic clauses were not the only electoral controversy in the region. Kenya had previously held the trophy for electoral bizarrerie, with a history of bizarre electoral practices. In 2017, Kenya's electoral commission boss expressed shock that anyone could suggest he resign after messing up the elections, and in 2013, the elections boss said he did not know who had won, leading to widespread violence and the sitting president's eventual appearance at the International Criminal Court.
Uganda was about to break Kenya's record of bizarre electoral practices when the Kenyans came up with their jesus thing and the world did not get to talk about Uganda's satanic clauses. Now the clauses are nowhere to be seen, and the whole weeklong argument was about nothing.
