Former pop star faces Yoweri Museveni in Ugandan election

With his charisma, tenacity and universal appeal, music star Bobi Wine has shaken up Ugandan politics.

Since his career turning point a decade ago, the 43-year-old has become a major thorn in the side of President Yoweri Museveni, an 81-year-old who has been in power for 40 years.

Bobi Wine has enchanted legions of young Ugandans, a demographic that makes up a large portion of the country’s population. Growing up in the slums of the capital, Kampala, he nicknamed himself the “ghetto president” and campaigned on issues such as youth unemployment and human rights.

On January 15, Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, named after former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, will face Museveni for the second time in the presidential election. But the odds are against him.

Since entering politics, the self-styled revolutionary has been imprisoned and faces several criminal charges.

His plight attracted worldwide attention: in 2018, musicians including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn signed a petition demanding his release.

Wine was arrested for illegal gun possession, but the case was widely seen as politically motivated. He was later also arrested for treason, but ultimately all these cases were dropped.

There was even greater outrage in 2021, when police shot Bobi Wine while he was campaigning.

“I am the candidate most connected to the population,” he told the BBC during his campaign for the upcoming elections.

“This is why among the eight candidates, I am the most hunted, I am the most harassed, I am the most feared.”

Authorities have repeatedly denied that the arrests of Bobi Wine, as well as supporters and members of his National Unity Platform (NUP) party, were politically motivated. They claim that all the detentions were necessary to maintain public order.

The president also accused Bobi Wine of organizing violent rallies in built-up areas, thereby endangering his supporters and the general public – an allegation denied by the opposition leader.

When Museveni took office in 1986, Bobi Wine was about to turn four years old.

Museveni and his rebel group, the National Resistance Army (NRA), seized power in an armed uprising.

Bobi Wine’s grandfather, Yozefu Walakira, was part of another rebel contingent, but from time to time during the conflict he hosted Museveni at his home.

Bobi Wine spent much of his childhood in Kampala. His mother Margaret Nalunkuuma, a nurse, was the main breadwinner and raised him on the land she bought in the Kamwokya slum.

As a teenager, Bobi Wine was passionate about the arts. He attended the prestigious Makerere University in Uganda, where he graduated with a degree in music, dance and theater in 2003. He met his wife and the mother of his four children, Barbara “Barbie” Itungo, when he was a student and they performed in the same play.

After university, Bobi Wine embarked on a musical career, calling his profession “edutainment,” meaning entertainment that educates. One of his first hits, Kadingo, was a song about personal hygiene.

His music, which features elements of reggae, afrobeats and traditional Ugandan rhythms, has gained a wide audience and made him a champion of social and political change.

Despite his growing fame, Bobi Wine chose to continue recording in a music studio he had built in the Kamwokya slum. He also worked as an actor.

In 2016, many famous musicians in the country supported the re-election of President Museveni. Bobi Wine, however, stood his ground.

He released a song called Situka, in which he said: “When the going gets tough, the tough gotta go, especially when leaders become deceptive leaders and mentors become tormentors. »

The following year, Bobi Wine turned to politics.

He ran in a by-election in the Kyadondo East constituency as an independent candidate, facing politicians from the ruling NRM and the FDC, which was Uganda’s second largest party at the time.

He won handily, receiving more than five times the vote total of his NRM opponent.

At this time, Bobi Wine developed the People Power movement, a pressure group campaigning for better democratic and social conditions.

MPs began to wear red berets, which remain the opposition leader’s trademark to this day.

After Bobi Wine was repeatedly blocked from registering People Power as a political party, he joined the lesser-known and already registered NURP. The party later changed its name to NUP and Bobi Wine was chosen to be its leader.

In 2021, he was ready to challenge Museveni in the presidential election. As the vote approached, dozens of people, many of whom were reportedly shot by security forces, were killed. Bobi Wine ultimately lost the election, winning 35% of the vote to Museveni’s 59%.

Two years later, the story of the NUP leader was immortalized in a National Geographic documentary titled Bobi Wine: The People’s President. The film was distributed worldwide and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Despite his Hollywood credentials, Bobi Wine’s politics haven’t changed much since he broke up nearly a decade ago.

He remains proud of his humble past and still focuses his campaigns on issues such as corruption, youth unemployment and wealth redistribution.

But there are fears that if, against all odds, he becomes president, his track record could work against him.

The military exercises influence over Ugandan politics – after all, it has removed or attempted to remove many leaders since the country became independent in 1962.

As Bobi Wine has no military or ministerial background and, conversely, cut his teeth in the creative sector, it might be difficult to get the armed forces to take him seriously as president.

It is a point of view that he rejects.

“Uganda has been ready to have a civilian leader since time immemorial,” he insists, adding that according to the Ugandan constitution, the army must be subordinate to civilian authority.

As voting day approached, Bobi Wine campaigned across the country, often wearing a protective vest and helmet.

Footage shows his supporters accompanying his convoy, braving tear gas and water cannons fired by security forces.

During a stop in northern Uganda, uniformed men whipped Bobi Wine supporters with sticks as they formed a human shield around the opposition leader.

His supporters remain steadfast and committed, holding rallies despite the risk of violence.

Bobi Wine does not let himself be discouraged either.

“This election is about liberation,” he says. “It’s about freedom, it’s about allowing people to make their voices heard. We’re asking people to go out and protest at the polls.”

Additional reporting by Catherine Byaruhanga and Sammy Awami