Issue and Opposition: Yoweri Museveni won the Presidential election in 2011 for the fourth time. Known for his role in throwing out Idi Amin in 1979, his political career and tenure were chequered since 1986 when he and his party- National Resistance Movement- came to power for the first time. While he introduced many good reforms for Uganda, especially in the initial years after coming to power, with time his and his party’s initiatives were marked with corruption, oppression, and extravagance. By 2014, Uganda was in grave economic distress with 84 percent of its young population (that was roughly one-third of Uganda’s total population) without any job. In the same year, Museveni passed an anti-gay bill that criminalized homosexuals in Uganda. Both of these made Museveni controversial at home and abroad. In June 2014, Museveni addressed the nation in his State of the Nation speech. Ugandans were concerned and angry that the President did not once mention the adverse economic situation the country was going through. The dilemma action was targeted at President Museveni and NRM.
Dilemma Action: Some young activists painted two pigs yellow and snuck them into the Parliament during the session. The color yellow was chosen because it is the color of the ruling party. The pig symbolized Uganda’s greedy government. The choice of pig came from a popular Ugandan perception that pigs are greedy animals who consume their offspring. A parallel was drawn between NRM and pigs because of the high unemployment rate among young Ugandans. The activists copied the idea of this action from an action performed by Kenyan activists. However, while the Kenyan protesters had released the pig outside their parliament, the Ugandan activists added more laughter to the action by releasing the two pigs inside the parliament when the session was on and letting them run amok. The protesters chose two pigs to ridicule both Museveni and his PM Mbabazi. The protesters had slogans decrying the government’s oppression, incompetence, corruption, and excesses printed on their T-shirts. The pigs too had similar slogans inscribed on their bodies. This dilemma action was part of a larger movement to overthrow Museveni’s government.
Outcome: The dilemma action was funny and exposed how easily the parliament’s security could be breached. The action attracted media and public attention and remained fresh in public memory because of its humor. Museveni won another two presidential terms although Mbabazi was dropped from the cabinet and replaced by Rugunda. NRM remained and remains the ruling party in Uganda.