Mamdani’s victory inspires Ugandans who see hope in youth joining politics

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The opposition leader in Uganda’s parliament sees Ugandan-born Zahran Mamdani’s win in the New York mayoral race as an inspiring political shift but somewhat too far-fetched for many Africans at home.

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“It is a great encouragement to us here in Uganda that this is possible,” said Joel Ssenyonyi, who represents a district in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. “But we have a long way to go to get there.”

Uganda, where Mamdani was born in 1991, has had the same president for nearly four decades, despite attempts by several opposition leaders to defeat him in elections. President Yoweri Museveni, an autocrat who is up for re-election in January, has rejected calls to retire, leading to fears of a volatile political transition. His most prominent rival is a 43-year-old artist known as Bobi Wine, whom he accuses of cheating in the 2021 elections.

Mamdani lived his early years in Uganda. He left Uganda at the age of five to follow his father, political theorist Mahmoud Mamdani, to South Africa and later moved to the United States. He retained his Ugandan citizenship even after becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2018.

His mother is director Mira Nair, whose work has been nominated for an Academy Award. The family maintains a house in Kampala, which they return to regularly and visited earlier this year to celebrate Mamdani’s marriage.

The influence of his father, Professor

The elder Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University, is known as a demanding teacher and a major influence on the son’s outlook as a pioneering scholar in the field of postcolonial studies.

Read more: How Zahran Mamdani rose from Queens lawmaker to mayor of New York

He has written criticizing Museveni’s government. His latest book — “Slow Poison,” published by Harvard University Press in October — juxtaposes Museveni’s legacy with that of the late dictator Idi Amin, who is blamed for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans between 1971 and 1979. He argues that both leaders made violence a key element of their success, and that although Amin retained popular support and did not die a millionaire, Museveni’s family is extremely wealthy while he is no longer popular.

Robert Kabushenga, a retired media executive and friend of the Mamdani family, said Zahran Mamdani, like his parents, is unconventional. Kabushenga said he “follows a tradition of very honest and clear thinkers who want to reimagine politics.” “(His father) should be pleasantly surprised.”

Ugandans see hope in more young people joining politics

Mamdani’s victory in New York offers a “beacon of hope” for beleaguered activists and others in Uganda. The lesson is that “we must allow young people the opportunity to shape and participate in politics in a meaningful way,” Kabushenga said.

Read more: In Uganda, Zahran Mamdani, a candidate for mayor of New York City, remembers it with pride

Okello Ogwang, a literature professor who worked with the elder Mamdani at Makerere University in Uganda, said the son’s success abroad means “it is important that we invest in young people.”

“It’s coming from here,” he said. “If we don’t invest in our youth, we are wasting our time.”

As a shy, soft-spoken teenager, Mamdani was briefly interested in a possible career as a journalist, and later became part of the rap group Young Cardamom and HAB, whose quirky music videos set in Kampala can still be seen online.

Before becoming a New York Assembly member in 2021, the self-described democratic socialist was a community activist in the New York borough of Queens, where he helped vulnerable homeowners facing eviction.

His mayoral campaign, whose success in the Democratic primary sent shockwaves through the political world, focused on lowering the cost of living, promising free city buses, free child care, and rent freezes for people living in rent-stabilized apartments and government-run grocery stores, all paid for by taxes on the wealthy. Some Republicans have called for his citizenship to be revoked and his deportation.

“It opens new horizons,” Kabushenga said. “He’s willing to try new places.”

Ssenyonyi, the Ugandan lawmaker, said Mamdani’s unexpected victory, as far-fetched as it seemed to Ugandans, was worth celebrating.
“She inspires us,” he said. “Mamdani was born in Uganda, like us.”