Pop Star Bobi Wine Runs for President in Uganda

Pop star Bobi Wine, real name Robert Kyagulanyi, is running for the presidency in Uganda. The current president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has been president since 1986. Museveni, who will be running for his sixth term in the upcoming election, came to power in an uprising in 1986 after overthrowing two dictators, and has managed to maintain his grip on power since.

Yoweri Museveni, credit: Bloomberg

Under the original clauses of the 1995 constitution, the current president should not have run for office again after 2005. However, in 2004, his MPs endorsed the idea that the constitution should be amended to remove presidential term limits, meaning that Museveni was able to stand until he reached the age of 75. After this, in 2017, the constitutional obstacle of an age limit for a presidential candidate was also removed. Many saw this as a way to allow Museveni to stay president for life.

The praise for the current president is very strong. He took the country over from a dictatorship, and with Museveni's national resistance army liberating the country, an end was brought to wars and senseless killings. According to the BBC, "It is this image of Museveni as a liberator and peace-bringer that many Ugandans have been raised on." Many young Ugandans refer to the president by the nickname "Sevo", while he endearingly calls them Bazukulu (meaning grandchildren in the Luganda language).

With his eye on his youthful opposition, Museveni has been determined to prove his "vitality". During the lockdown in April, he filmed and uploaded to Twitter a video of himself doing press ups, to encourage others to keep fit and healthy during a period of uncertainty.

Bobi Wine is a former musician who potentially began to change the history of Ugandan politics when he won a parliamentary seat in Kyadondo East by a landslide in 2017. The following year, he announced that he would challenge the country's longest serving president in the February election. Since this announcement, Wine has become Museveni's most significant opposition.

According to a staff announcement on Twitter, the former reggae musician was arrested while campaigning in eastern Uganda. He was accused of violating COVID-19 restrictions by hosting a rally with over 200 people.

“Despite repeated warnings issued to candidates, their agents and wider public about the negative impact and health risks of holding unauthorized rallies and processions, we continue to witness acts of defiance and total disregard of the EC [Electoral Commission] guidelines. Therefore, those who shall defy these Electoral Commission guidelines with their sinister plans aimed at disrupting the electoral process will definitely suffer consequences,” a statement on the police’s official website read.

Bobi Wine, credit: Rolling Stone

After the news of his arrest, many young people and youth-led demonstrations erupted in Kampala and around many other towns in Uganda. Violent clashes broke out between the protesters and the military, and at least 45 people were injured.

In December, a bullet was shot through the windscreen of his car, narrowly missing himself and another passenger. In November, a police officer threw a hand grenade at him at a rally in Jinja, central Uganda. He just about avoided the grenade, which blasted only a few centimeters behind Wine on a vehicle's bonnet. However, the police did shoot and severely injure several team members, including his producer Dan Magic, and a police officer who was accompanying him.

There has "never been a peaceful transfer of power" between presidents in Uganda, but Wine is hoping to achieve this by unseating long-serving President Museveni in Thursday's vote. During the last election when he addressed the question of him ever stepping down, Museveni responded with the question "How can I go out of a banana plantation I have planted that has started bearing fruits?"

Uganda's general election will take place on Thursday, 14th January, 2021. There are 11 candidates running, only one of whom is a woman: Nancy Kalembe. More than eighteen million people have already registered to vote, and 529 MPs will be elected.