For over 40 years, power-greedy octogenarian dictator – Museveni has told Ugandans the same story: No one else can rule Uganda except himself.
First it was because the bush war had to be stabilized. Then it was because the economy had to recover. Then it was because oil had to be protected. Now, in 2026, the justification has moved online โ and it is not being delivered by real Ugandans or even human beings – it is being delivered by bots.
Scroll through X, TikTok, or Facebook today and you will find the new NRM propaganda machine in full operation. Hundreds of fresh accounts, all created within months of each other, with AI-generated profile pictures, zero personal photos, and identical talking points. They swarm every critical post about corruption, abductions, or the cost of living with the same script.
The Playbook is Obvious.
- The “Peace and Stability” Myth: Every comment section is flooded with “We remember the 80s, we need peace. Only Mzee can guarantee stability.” As if Ugandans born in 2005 must remember the 1980s. As if peace means tolerating brutal abductions, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and staged military trials for innocent civilians.
- The Attack on the Youth: Any young Ugandan who questions the overstay is instantly labeled a “homosexual promoter” or “foreign agent funded by the West.” The bots don’t debate policy; they criminalize freedom of speech and dissent. It’s the same language from State House speeches, copy-pasted by fake/bot accounts operating from the same troll farm.
- Fake Development Numbers: The bots post glossy infographics about roads and electricity that don’t exist in real villages. They pretentiously claim that “Under criminal Museveni, Uganda has grown 1000%.”
Meanwhile, hospitals have no beds or medicine, youth unemployment has skyrocketed and graduates ride boda bodas because there are no jobs.
The numbers are fiction, and the algorithm boosts them.
- The Manufactured Consensus: On TikTok, you will see 500 comments praising the dictator on a video posted by an NRM cadre. Check the profiles โ they all follow each other, they post the same 3 videos, and they all comment within 5 minutes. It’s not popularity. It’s choreography. The regime knows it has lost the streets, so it is trying to buy the timeline.
This is what dictatorship looks like in the digital age. Museveni cannot stand on a podium and credibly claim Ugandans still want him after four decades. The crowds are paid, the rallies are forced, the opposition is jailed. So he has built a fake crowd online โ a ghost army of bots to clap for him when real citizens refuse to.
It is a confession of weakness. A leader confident in his legacy does not need to manufacture supporters. A leader who has delivered does not need to hire anonymous accounts to explain his achievements.
Ugandans are not fooled. We know the difference between a real voice and a hired bot. We know that no amount of trending hashtags like #WhyUgDecidedM7 #MzeeMustStay or #ProtectTheGains can hide 40 years of corruption, nepotism, and a constitution twisted to serve one man.
The bots can justify his overstay online. But they cannot vote for him in the hearts of Ugandans who live the reality every day.