Bobi Wine burst onto Uganda\u2019s political scene ahead of a 2021 election, going from a dreadlocked ragga singer to become the figurehead of the youthful opposition, but he has faced years of brutality in his bid to unseat one of Africa\u2019s longest-ruling leaders.<\/p>\n
The 43-year-old former music star, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, went from music videos in which he was surrounded by women and driving a Cadillac with a joint hanging out of his mouth, to becoming a member of parliament.<\/p>\n
He has become the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, 81, who has been in power for 40 years and is the only president most Ugandans have known.<\/p>\n
Wine spooked the government when he ran for the presidency in 2021, drawing vast crowds, particularly in poorer areas of the capital Kampala where he grew up.<\/p>\n
Dozens were killed as security forces sought to suppress his campaign, but Wine is running again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must continue to stand together to fight this\u2026 I have no doubt in my mind we will overcome,\u201d he told a recent prayer meeting for political prisoners.<\/p>\n
Wine was arrested multiple times during his political rise, including shortly before the vote in January 2021, triggering widespread unrest.<\/p>\n
He was tortured on several occasions in custody \u2014 as shown in the Oscar-nominated documentary \u201cBobi Wine: the People\u2019s President\u201d.<\/p>\n
The authorities have again responded violently to his campaign this time, breaking up rallies with teargas and police beatings.<\/p>\n
Rights groups say hundreds have been arrested simply for supporting Wine\u2019s National Unity Platform (NUP).<\/p>\n
\u2013 Fight against injustice\u00a0\u2013<\/p>\n
Wine grew up in one of Kampala\u2019s biggest slums, Kamwokya, where thousands of Ugandans struggle to get by and feel forgotten by Museveni\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
He studied music and drama at university and now lives in a wealthier neighbourhood, but still portrays himself as the \u201cghetto president\u201d, a nickname he earned through his songs denouncing social and economic injustice.<\/p>\n
His modest origins and relative youth are key to his popularity in a poor country where three quarters the population are under 30 \u2014 representing nearly half of the voters.<\/p>\n
As an MP, Wine notably fought against a tax on social media, widely seen as unfair and limiting freedom of speech.<\/p>\n
He originally hails from the Buganda kingdom, one of several traditional kingdoms which were lumped together under colonialism, and is popular there.<\/p>\n
Analysts say the elite around Museveni felt Wine may have peaked in 2021, but his continued ability to draw huge crowds has taken them back.<\/p>\n
Wine has sought to broaden his appeal beyond Kampala and the Buganda region, cannily adopting the national flag as his symbol, which has drawn the ire of the authorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bobi Wine burst onto Uganda\u2019s political scene ahead of a 2021 election, going from a dreadlocked ragga singer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[1409,9467,153],"class_list":{"0":"post-19829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uganda","8":"tag-international","9":"tag-mna","10":"tag-uganda"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}