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Uganda heads into the January 15, 2026 elections under the long shadow of President Yoweri Museveni, a leader who has dominated the country’s political life for nearly four decades and is now seeking what would amount to 45 years in power. At 82, and amid visible signs of physical strain and deteriorating national infrastructure, Museveni is once again asking Ugandans for more time, paradoxically campaigning as a “grievance” candidate against the very system he has built.

This election unfolds in an atmosphere marked by systemic violence, shrinking civic space, and mounting pressure on the opposition, particularly supporters of Bobi Wine and the National Unity Platform. Arrests, intimidation, and force have become familiar tools of political control, raising serious concerns about whether the ballot can still function as a credible vehicle for change.

Beyond the vote itself lies a deeper question: what comes after Museveni? With persistent speculation around a managed succession involving his son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda faces the possibility of a highly contested and potentially volatile transition. Is the country headed toward stability through continuity, or stagnation enforced by coercion? And does Museveni still possess the political magic that once secured him legitimacy at home and abroad?

In this episode, we unpack the forces shaping Uganda’s 2026 election the history, the power dynamics, the violence, and the ballots and examine what this moment means for Uganda’s future and the region at large.

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In this episode, we take a deep dive into yet another failed military coup in West Africa and what it reveals about shifting power dynamics across the continent. We unpack how Nigeria, alongside other regional and international players, moved quickly to freeze what many have begun calling the “coup belt,” and why this particular intervention mattered.

The conversation then widens to the diplomatic fallout playing out in real time. We examine why several African leaders appeared to sideline Luanda, the East African Community (EAC), and the African Union (AU), instead gravitating toward a Washington-brokered DRC–Rwanda “peace” deal—raising serious questions about sovereignty, influence, and who ultimately shapes African security outcomes.
We also place these developments within a broader global context, looking at how Africa is being positioned and perceived on the world stage at a moment marked by open diplomatic snubs, inflammatory rhetoric, and strained relationships—particularly during the same period Donald Trump made derogatory remarks about Somalia and excluded South Africa from key G20 engagements.

This episode connects the dots between coups, diplomacy, external influence, and the uncomfortable realities of global power politics—offering context beyond the headlines and asking what these moments mean for Africa’s political future.

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Guinea-Bissau’s newest putsch is more than just another headline — it’s the latest chapter in a nation shaped by five decades of coups, contested elections, and power struggles between military elites and political cartels. Once branded West Africa’s “narco-state,” Guinea-Bissau continues to battle the shadow networks that have defined its instability and weakened its institutions.

In this episode, we break down what’s really driving the latest unrest, the historical forces behind the country’s fragile democracy, and what this crisis means for the wider West African region.

If you’re interested in African politics, security dynamics, or the hidden power plays shaping the continent, this is a breakdown you don’t want to miss.

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South Africa pulls off a major diplomatic win in Johannesburg as the world’s richest nations agree to debt relief and climate financing—even without the United States at the table.
Meanwhile, Nigeria faces one of its toughest moments yet, battling a surge in militant attacks and mass school kidnappings that have shaken the nation.
And in Sudan, the crisis deepens: mass killings, famine-level conditions, and a dangerous Saudi–UAE power struggle threaten to redraw the region’s future.
This episode unpacks the shifting global order, Africa’s role in it, and what these flashpoints mean for the continent’s stability.

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As pressure grows from Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Chad for reliable port access, South Africa’s G-20 presidency tests whether global power can meet African realities.

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As Africa’s youth rise and leaders retreat into fear or fury, Morocco bends while others break. Rabat’s monarchy buys peace with reforms and royal calm. In Tanzania, the ballot turned into a battlefield, leaving hundreds dead and a nation reeling. And from across the ocean, Donald Trump stokes new anger, snubbing South Africa’s G-20 summit with a baseless claim about the “slaughter of Afrikaners.” This episode unpacks Africa’s uneasy balance between reform, repression, and foreign rage

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In this episode of Bad Natives Podcast, we dissect two storms shaping global power and perception — one in Tanzania, and one in Washington.

In Tanzania’s October 2025 election, President Samia Suluhu Hassan secured a Soviet-style 98% victory, the kind of landslide that says less about popularity and more about the performance of power. Opposition leaders were jailed, rallies were banned, and protests in Dar es Salaam met the barrels of police guns. The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party — long revered as a symbol of unity and calm — watched its myth of stability collapse into smoke and fire.

From the outside, it looked like just another African election.
From the inside, it felt like déjà vu: democracy choreographed to look convincing, even as the votes screamed otherwise.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Donald Trump returned to the headlines with a promise as dangerous as it was familiar — to send U.S. troops to Nigeria to “protect Christians” and cut aid to governments “tolerating Islamic terrorism.” His threat, delivered with trademark bravado, reignites old questions about American intervention in Africa, religious politics, and who gets to define “protection” in a continent that’s still healing from external saviors.

From Dar es Salaam to Washington, this is a story of democracy, delusion, and divine justification — how power dresses itself up, whether in a pantsuit or a red tie, and how the people always pay the price.

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In this episode of Bad Natives Podcast, we dive into the paradox at the heart of modern African politics: the rise of democratic dictators — leaders who speak the language of reform while quietly redrawing the rules of freedom.

From Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, whose early charm offensive promised openness after Magufuli’s era but now faces mounting scrutiny for tightening political space, to Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, the region’s eternal patriarch, and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, the technocrat-king who swapped term limits for efficiency — the story feels eerily familiar.

They all wear the clothes of democracy: elections, parliaments, press briefings.
But beneath the fabric, the seams of control are stitched tight.

In Tanzania’s most recent elections, questions linger over party dominance, restricted opposition rallies, and a carefully managed narrative of peace. Samia’s “listening leadership” has, in parts, begun to sound more like “strategic silence.” Yet, she remains a fascinating case: the first woman to lead Tanzania, balancing diplomacy abroad with caution at home — a symbol of what’s possible and a warning of how quickly hope is domesticated by power.

Across Africa, it’s the same old script, but with glossier cameras and better Wi-Fi.
In Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa’s regime performs elections as ritual theatre — predictable yet necessary for legitimacy.
In Cameroon, Biya governs like a ghost king, outlasting generations.
And in Kenya, power changes hands but not habits — recycled faces in new suits, promising “new dawns” that look suspiciously like yesterday’s dusk.

But here’s the twist: Africa’s youth are no longer watching quietly.
From the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria to the Gen Z tax revolts in Kenya, and from Sudan’s street defiance to diaspora-led digital dissent — the rebellion is here, raw and unfinished. Some fight with placards, others with passports. Some are building new institutions; others are burning the old ones to the ground.

And so we ask:
Can democracy survive its democrats?

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Raila Odinga’s funeral unites Kenya – and chunks of Africa - in grief, Mnangagwa set to get more years  on the throne in Zimbabwe, and Africa’s Anglican Church seeks break from England  power, faith, and memory play out in a restless continent.

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Raila Amolo Odinga — Baba, Agwambo, the Enigma — was never just a politician. He was Kenya’s moral compass, disruptor, dealmaker, and paradox all at once. In this BNP Express, we trace the life and legacy of one of Africa’s most consequential opposition figures — a man who stood up to Daniel arap Moi, built uneasy alliances with Mwai Kibaki, shook hands with Uhuru Kenyatta, and clashed bitterly with William Ruto.

From the struggle for multi-party democracy in the 1990s to the historic handshake of 2018, Raila Odinga’s improbable politics of elite bargaining and national compromise helped steady a nation always on the brink. He embodied both protest and peace; both the dream and the disillusionment of a people who believed change was always one election away.

Now, as he rests, Agwambo exits as he lived — a symbol of unfinished struggle, leaving Kenya once again in reflection, trying to decode what it all meant, and what the country becomes without him.