Before his inauguration ceremony... Who is Yoweri Museveni, who ruled Uganda for 40 years?
He won his first presidential election in 1996 with 75.51% of the vote.
The capital is preparing Ugandan Kampala witnessed a historic political scene at the Kololo Ceremonial Square, where the curtain fell on the January 2026 election race with the inauguration ceremony of President Yoweri Museveni for a seventh term.
This event comes after the announcement of the official results confirming Museveni’s victory with 71.65% of the votes, thus continuing his journey in power that began four decades ago, amid a new government slogan that focuses on “protecting gains and achieving a qualitative leap towards a middle-income economy.”.
Who is Yoweri Museveni?
The career of Museveni, who was born in August 1944 in the Ntongamo region, represents an extraordinary rise from the fields of armed rebellion to the corridors of presidential palaces.
After receiving an academic education in economics and political science from the University of Dar es Salaam, he became involved in military and political work, where he led the National Resistance Movement and the Resistance Army against successive regimes, until he succeeded in taking control of the country and entering the capital, Kampala, in 1986, to begin a new era in the history of modern Uganda as Supreme Commander of the Resistance Army and President of the Republic.
40 years in Uganda's rule
Over the course of his forty years in power, Museveni was able to consolidate his authority through a series of pivotal electoral and constitutional milestones. Since the first presidential election in 1996, in which he won with 75.51%, his victories continued in the 2001 and 2006 elections, up to 2021.
This continuity would not have been possible without fundamental constitutional amendments, most notably the abolition of the maximum term limits for the presidency in 2005, and then the abolition of the age restriction for candidacy in 2018, which paved the way for him to run and remain in power despite being over eighty years old.
Integrity of the electoral process
Despite the clear electoral dominance, the seventh term continues to generate widespread controversy in Ugandan political circles, with opposition forces raising their voices in criticism of the integrity of the electoral process.
In this atmosphere, the international community views the upcoming inauguration ceremony in Kampala not merely as a protocol ceremony, but as a critical political juncture in which Museveni faces the challenge of balancing his enormous economic ambitions with the growing pressure for political change and the transfer of power.
