Uganda, May 4 -- On Monday, we launched a new book titled Autocratisation in Contemporary Uganda: Clientelism, Coercion and Social Control. The book is an anthology for which I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of serving as the editor and project-lead.

The word 'autocratisation' might sound arcane, even bewildering, to not just an ordinary reader but also a non-specialist intellectual. It derives from 'autocrat rule', meaning being under one president or party or both for so long as to deepen a system of rule that erodes independent institutions and hallows out the governance landscape.

The fact that President Yoweri Museveni has ruled Uganda uninterrupted for nearly 40 years under the NRM political party means that Uganda is fir...