Politics in Africa is of its own making. Take Uganda as an example.

The current government shot its way into power in 1986. The sitting president, Yoweri Museveni, has stayed in the office for 22 years, a record for Uganda. He would like to run for re- election again in two year's time, having instigated the removal of two- term limits in the constitution.

When he overthrew the previous leader, one of the reasons he gave for bad governance in Africa was that "African presidents are a problem because they overstay in office."

He now carefully avoids any reference to this. Instead, he refers to himself as a revolutionary, who should not just be chased away from office like a chicken thief. He might really be walking the footsteps of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Though the president is a constant all this time, he has hired three vice presidents so far. Interestingly, all of them were med- ical doctors, one being a lady. The lady vice president made history not only in Uganda, but in the whole of Africa as the first female to ascend to that office.

She was married to an engineer, and they had children. Though not a bully, she spoke her mind. One day she shocked parliamentarians when she told them they wore smelly torn socks. And as if to defend animal conjugal rights, she spoke against artificial insemination.

She was a very likeable person though some saw her as a loose verbal cannon. As if it were wrong for her to cross into politics, she began to have a series of domestic problems with her husband. Their family life began to be characterized by quarrels and fights which became public secrets. Because she could no longer endure it, she sued her husband for domestic violence. In court, he admitted he slapped her once. I wonder how Americans would respond if they learned speaker Nancy Pelosi had been battered by her husband. To cut the story short, they had to divorce.

The third vice president, who is current, is behaving as if he is in Hollywood. One day, he called a top executive of an independent news paper and told him in an interview published that a mafia gang of colleagues was planning to pull him down. Hardly two days after, he retracted the story though he boasted that nobody can remove him because his power and strength is comparable to mahogany tree. He has since been christened "Mahogany."

Though in his late 50s, the vice president has created a playboy scenario.

A woman alleged to have an affair with him drove to a newspaper office and gave an interview claiming she is married to him customarily. "Last year I introduced him to my parents, and they accepted him. So you refer to me as his wife not girlfriend."

The running story now says the vice president has a two- year- old daughter with a driver. The driver is suing the VP.

The VP is married to a fellow doctor, and they have grown children. Vice President Dick Cheney should take a trip to Uganda and chastise his colleague for not carrying himself appropriately in this high and prestigious honorable office. Otherwise in Africa, these escapades are just normal. In some ways they give credence to masculinity.