The previous pop star taking up Yoweri Museveni in Uganda’s election

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5ae1/live/8dcd1020-ea38-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images Bobi Wine looks directly at the camera wearing a red beret, a red t-shirt and a white blazer" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures Along with his charisma, tenacity and everyman enchantment, music star Bobi Wine has shaken up Ugandan politics.

Since his profession pivot a decade in the past, the 43-year-old has grow to be a serious thorn within the facet of President Yoweri Museveni, an 81-year-old who has been in energy for 40 years.

Bobi Wine has enchanted legions of younger Ugandans, a demographic that makes up a big portion of the nation's inhabitants. Having grown up within the slums of the capital, Kampala, he dubbed himself the "ghetto president" and campaigns on points comparable to youth unemployment and human rights.

On 15 January, Bobi Wine, whose actual identify is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, after the previous Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, will compete towards Museveni in a presidential election for the second time. However the odds are stacked towards him.

Since getting into politics, the self-styled revolutionary has been imprisoned and confronted a number of prison costs.

His plight has piqued consideration all over the world - in 2018, musicians together with Coldplay's Chris Martin and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, signed a petition demanding his launch from custody.

Wine was held on costs referring to the unlawful possession of firearms, however the case was extensively seen as being politically motivated. He was subsequently additionally arrested for treason, however finally, all of those circumstances had been dropped.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/485e/live/691aeb60-ea3a-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images Bobi Wine raises his fist in the air while handcuffed to another man. People wearing military-style outfits walk behing them." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP through Getty Pictures Wine has been arrested quite a few occasions - he's pictured right here cuffed to a different detainee in 2019

There was additional outrage in 2021, when the police shot at Bobi Wine whereas he was campaigning.

"I'm essentially the most linked candidate to the inhabitants," he instructed the BBC throughout his marketing campaign for the forthcoming election.

"That's the reason among the many eight candidates, I'm essentially the most hounded, I'm essentially the most harassed, I'm essentially the most feared."

The authorities have repeatedly denied that the arrests of Bobi Wine, and supporters and members of his Nationwide Unity Platform (NUP) occasion, have been political. They are saying any detentions have been needed to take care of legislation and order.

The president has additionally accused Bobi Wine of holding violent rallies in built-up areas, placing his supporters and most people in danger - an allegation denied by the opposition chief.

When Museveni took workplace in 1986, Bobi Wine was nearly to show 4.

Museveni and his insurgent Nationwide Resistance Military (NRA) had seized energy in an armed rebellion.

Bobi Wine's grandfather, Yozefu Walakira, was a part of a special insurgent contingent however once in a while throughout the battle, he hosted Museveni in his house.

Bobi Wine spent a lot of his childhood in Kampala. His mom Margaret Nalunkuuma, a nurse, was the primary breadwinner and raised him on the land she purchased within the Kamwokya slum.

As a youngster, Bobi Wine gained a ardour for the humanities. He attended Uganda's prestigious Makerere College, incomes a diploma in music, dance and drama in 2003. He met his spouse and the mom of his 4 kids, Barbara "Barbie" Itungo, when he was a scholar and so they starred in the identical play.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/eec9/live/e80d8bd0-ea3a-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images Wine stands atop a car, which is crowded by supporters. Wine and the supporters wave Uganda flags." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP through Getty Pictures Bobi Wine's marketing campaign focuses closely on corruption and youth unemployment

After college, Bobi Wine launched into a music profession, branding his craft "edutainment", that's, leisure that educates. Considered one of his earliest hits, Kadingo, was a tune about private hygiene.

His music, which options parts of reggae, Afrobeats and conventional Ugandan rhythms, gained a big following, and established him as a champion for social and political change.

Regardless of his mounting fame, Bobi Wine selected to proceed recording in a music studio he had constructed within the Kamwokya slum. He additionally labored as an actor.

In 2016, most of the nation's well-known musicians backed President Museveni's re-election. Bobi Wine, nonetheless, held out.

He launched a tune named Situka, by which he mused: "When the going will get powerful, the powerful should get going, particularly when leaders grow to be misleaders and mentors grow to be tormentors."

The next yr, Bobi Wine turned his hand to politics.

He ran in a by-election for the Kyadondo-East constituency as an impartial candidate, going through politicians from the ruling NRM and the FDC, which was Uganda's second-biggest occasion on the time.

He gained by a landslide, securing greater than 5 occasions the whole votes of his NRM opponent.

Round this time, Bobi Wine developed the Folks Energy motion, a strain group campaigning for higher democratic and social situations.

Members started carrying pink berets, which to today stay a trademark for the opposition chief.

After Bobi Wine was repeatedly blocked from registering Folks Energy as a political occasion, he joined the lesser-known, already-registered NURP. The occasion then modified its identify to the NUP and Bobi Wine was chosen to be its chief.

By 2021, he was able to problem Museveni within the presidential election. Within the run-up to the vote, dozens of individuals, lots of whom had been believed to have been shot by the safety forces, had been killed. Bobi Wine in the end misplaced the election, gaining 35% of the vote in comparison with Museveni's 59%.

Two years later, the NUP chief's story was immortalised in a Nationwide Geographic documentary, titled Bobi Wine: The Folks's president. The movie was distributed globally and earned an Oscars nomination.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/71fb/live/cb017070-ea39-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Variety via Getty Images Bobi Wine, wearing his trademark red beret and a black suit, poses for a picture with his wife." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Selection through Getty Pictures Wine and his spouse attended the Oscars after a documentary, based mostly on his story, was nominated for an award

Regardless of his Hollywood credentials, Bobi Wine's politics haven't shifted a lot since he broke out nearly a decade in the past.

He stays pleased with his humble background and nonetheless focuses his campaigns round points like corruption, youth unemployment and wealth redistribution.

However there's a concern that ought to, towards all odds, he grow to be president, his background may depend towards him.

The navy is influential in Ugandan politics - in any case, they've deposed or tried to depose quite a few leaders because the nation turned impartial in 1962.

As Bobi Wine doesn't have a navy or ministerial background and, conversely, lower his enamel within the inventive sector, it could be powerful to get the armed forces to take him severely as president.

This can be a view he rejects.

"Uganda has been prepared for a civilian chief since time immemorial," he insists, including that in response to Uganda's structure, the navy should be subordinate to the civilian authority.

Within the run-up to voting day, Bobi Wine has been campaigning throughout the nation, usually carrying a protecting flack jacket and helmet.

Footage exhibits his supporters accompanying his convoy, braving tear fuel and water cannon fired by the safety forces.

At a cease in northern Uganda, uniformed males whipped Bobi Wine's supporters with sticks as they fashioned a human protect across the opposition chief.

His backers stay steadfast and dedicated, packing out rallies regardless of the chance of violence.

Bobi Wine can also be undeterred.

"This election is about liberation," he says. "It's about freedom, it's about individuals asserting their voices. We're asking individuals to come back out and protest within the poll field."

Further reporting by Catherine Byaruhanga and Sammy Awami

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