Political analysts have warned of the danger of political violence if the election is perceived as fraudulent. “Undoubtedly, the prospects of violence are greatest if the government seeks to overturn a clear opposition win,” said Jeffrey Smith, head of Vanguard Africa, a democracy advocacy group.

Zambia’s election has broad significance for Africa and the world, he said in a published commentary. “Perhaps no other country – and no other upcoming election – better encapsulates the increasingly pitched global struggle of our day in which the forces of elite authoritarianism and popular demands for democracy are clashing.”

Some Washington insiders are now calling for the re-evaluation of US support for the dictator. Jeffrey Smith, director of the advocacy nonprofit Vanguard Africa, told World Politics Review this January that, “There needs to be a review of U.S. policy towards Uganda, including a comprehensive review of the millions of dollars we provide on an annual basis to their security forces and military.”

This is not the first time that dictators and tourism ministers have “tried to use mega-events to launder their images,” pointed out U.S. human rights activist Jeffrey Smith, the founding director of Vanguard Africa, which works on issues related to public advocacy (and who also works with Bobi Wine). Smith gave the example of a 2014 scrapped performance by Grammy-award-winning American singer Erykah Badu for Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh. Smith had encouraged social media users on January 29 to take over the #VisitUganda hashtag before the MTV event in Kampala was canceled.

“Today, there is a sense that, while we may disagree on policy strategy, there is a fundamental agreement, across the board, that democracy and human rights are important - not just morally and ethically, but also for U.S. national security and for our standing in the world,” said Jeffrey Smith, founding director of Vanguard Africa, a pro-democracy advocacy group.

The American rap artist and singer Akon is helping to rehabilitate longtime President Yoweri Museveni’s reputation after an election earlier this year marred by violence, an internet shutdown and allegations of vote rigging, the U.S. based groups Human Rights Foundation and Vanguard Africa said in a joint letter to Akon shared late Monday.

Global human rights activists, like Vanguard Africa’s Jeffrey Smith, say Idris Deby's election win is a foregone conclusion.

“It is long past due for the United States to revamp and overhaul its policy towards Uganda,” said Jeffrey Smith, founding director of Vanguard Africa, a US-based non-profit, which works on governance.

“General Museveni is a military dictator who has used every tool at his disposal, for nearly four decades now, to deny democracy to Ugandans,” added Smith, who has worked with Bobi Wine for several years.

Bobi Wine‘s man in Washington harbors no illusions that President Yoweri Museveni will quietly step down after three and a half decades in power.

Instead, Jeffrey Smith‘s mission is at once simpler and more ambitious: Keeping his pop star-turned-opposition leader client — and the dreams of countless people he has inspired across Africa — alive as he challenges the results of last month’s election that saw Museveni win a sixth term in office.