12 May 2022
The Generation Game
The UK, Uganda, the Philippines.
By Neil Tidmarsh
The news this week in the UK, the Philippines and Uganda suggested that the heads of state in all three countries may soon be replaced by their offspring.
In the UK, Prince Charles stood in for his mother, the aged and ailing Queen Elizabeth II, to read the Queen’s Speech at the state opening of parliament.
In Uganda, President Museveni’s son Muhoozi Kainerugaba announced that he is about to publish a manifesto for governing, increasing the suspicion that the ground is being prepared for a father-to-son succession.
In the Philippines, preliminary results suggest that the recent presidential election has been won by Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr, son of Ferdinand Marcos who was president from 1965 to 1986. Bongbong’s running mate as vice-president is Sara Duterte, daughter of the outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte.
So, this week, in the spirit of compare and contrast, this column offers a “Generation Game”, a simple multiple choice quiz about these three dynasties:
(1) Which head of state’s consort infamously owned thousands of pairs of shoes (somewhere between 1000 and 10,000, but who’s counting)?
a. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
b. Janet Kataaha Museveni
c. Imelda Marcos.
(2) Which head of state’s consort was the subject of dozens of court cases around the world and was convicted of corruption four years ago?
a. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
b. Janet Kataaha Museveni
c. Imelda Marcos.
(3) Which head of state’s consort locked down the country’s international airport in retaliation for the Beatles refusing to give a private performance at the palace?
a. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
b. Janet Kataaha Museveni
c. Imelda Marcos.
(4) Which head of state’s consort, having forgotten to buy cheese in Rome, forced a plane to do a U-turn?
a. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
b. Janet Kataaha Museveni
c. Imelda Marcos.
(5) Which head of state’s consort has been appointed a cabinet minister (three times)?
a. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
b. Imelda Marcos
c. Janet Kataaha Museveni.
(6) Which head of state and consort held a Guinness World Record for plundering the wealth of their country?
a. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
b. Yoweri Museveni and Janet Kataaha Museveni
c. Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos.
(7) Which head of state revised the constitution, silenced media outlets and violently suppressed all opposition during years of martial law?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Yoweri Museveni
c. Ferdinand Marcos.
(8) Which head of state and consort were suspected of ordering the assassination of their main opposition figure Benigno Aquino jnr in 1983?
a. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
b. Yoweri Museveni and Janet Kataaha Museveni
c. Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos.
(9) Which head of state lost power and fled the country in 1986 when widespread allegations of a fixed election triggered the People Power Revolution?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Yoweri Museveni
c. Ferdinand Marcos.
(10) Which head of state called the pope a “son of a whore”?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Yoweri Museveni
c. Rodrigo Duterte.
(11) Which head of state said “You can go to hell, Mr Obama, you can go to hell” to the US President?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Yoweri Museveni
c. Rodrigo Duterte.
(12) Which head of state has allegedly encouraged thousands of murders and even allegedly taken part in them during a violent campaign against the drug trade?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Yoweri Museveni
c. Rodrigo Duterte
(13) Which head of state came to power as a military leader in 1986 and has since retained power through dubious elections and by changing the constitution to scrap presidential term limits and presidential age limits?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Rodrigo Duterte
c. Yoweri Museveni.
(14) Which head of state declared himself the victor in the 2020 election which most observers say was rigged and should have been won by the challenger Bobi Wine?
a. Queen Elizabeth II
b. Rodrigo Duterte
c. Yoweri Museveni.
(15) Which head of state’s son (or daughter) controls the country’s military and its security agencies, and has been accused of ordering the violent security clampdown which killed many (including women and children) during protests following the 2020 presidential election, and of overseeing the detention, beating and even disappearance of supporters of the opposition candidate Bobi Wine who so nearly unseated his father?
a. Prince Charles
b. Sara Duterte
c. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
(16) The novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was arrested, beaten and illegally detained after calling which head of state’s son (or daughter) “a fool” and an “inebriated curmudgeon” on social media?
a. Prince Charles
b. Sara Duterte
c. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
(17) Which son of a head of state has been nicknamed General Twitter because of his social media habits (“We were terribly ferocious and dangerous at Sandhurst!” was a recent post from this graduate of the UK’s Royal Military Academy).
a. Prince Charles
b. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos
c. Muhoozi Kainerugaba
(18) Which son or daughter of a head of state, now about to succeed to the highest of political offices, twice failed the Politics part – and didn’t pass the Economics part – of PPE at Oxford?
a. Prince Charles
b. Sara Duterte
c. Ferdinand ‘BongBong’ Marcos.
(19) A multi-million dollar contract for oxygen was awarded in 2020 to the pharmaceuticals company owned by the wife of which head of state’s son? (Questions were subsequently asked about the cost and supply of oxygen during the Covid pandemic.)
a. Prince Charles
b. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos
c. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
All answers are (c).
God save Queen Elizabeth II (and long live the Prince of Wales)!
Cover page image: Adam Storey / Wikimedia / Creative Commons
