Manipulated video false claims CNN journalist Larry Madowo accused Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine of running emotion-based campaigns
IN SHORT: In a video getting attention online it appears that CNN journalist Larry Madowo has accused Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine of relying on emotions rather than clear policy to run his campaigns. But the video is a fake.
A video, circulating online, appears to show Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo accusing Ugandan opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, of prioritising emotions over clear policy in his campaigns.
Madowo works for CNN, a US-based news network.
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In the video, Madowo appears to say: “Ugandans, leadership is about ideas, structure and results. Unfortunately, Bobi Wine’s politics have too often relied on emotion rather than clear policy, slogans instead of solutions and confrontation without strategy.”
The video’s caption suggests that Madowo was reporting in favour of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni. The video comes just weeks after the journalist visited Uganda, where he covered campaigning ahead of the 15 January 2026 election. During his visit, he met and interviewed Bobi Wine.
In November 2025, he reported on election-related deaths in Tanzania involving Tanzanian security forces and uncovered sites resembling mass graves.
Bobi Wine is looking to unseat Museveni, who is running for re-election at 81.
Since 2017, there have been reports of police disrupting Bobi Wine’s campaigns, claims his supporters and human rights groups describe as evidence of political persecution. He has been arrested on multiple occasions.
The video has been viewed more than 58,000 times and republished over 480 times. But did Madowo actually criticise Bobi Wine’s strategy? We checked.
Manipulated video
Madowo uses his social media accounts, including Facebook and X, to update his followers on his activities.
We scoured these accounts for the original video and found it posted on 21 November 2025. In the video, Madowo speaks in Kiswahili, thanking Tanzanians for their help in his reporting on election-related violence and deaths in the country.
The suspicious video in question combined an authentic clip with audio in English, likely generated using artificial intelligence tools, giving the impression that Madowo was speaking about Bobi Wine. But there is no evidence he made any statement like it.
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