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 turn into a serious thorn within the aspect 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 reminiscent of youth unemployment and human rights.

On 15 January, Bobi Wine, whose actual title 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 coming into politics, the self-styled revolutionary has been imprisoned and confronted a number of prison prices.

His plight has piqued consideration around the globe - 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 prices referring to the unlawful possession of firearms, however the case was broadly considered as being politically motivated. He was subsequently additionally arrested for treason, however ultimately, all of those instances 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 informed 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 mandatory to keep up 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 distinct insurgent contingent however now and again through the battle, he hosted Museveni in his residence.

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 youngsters, Barbara "Barbie" Itungo, when he was a scholar they usually 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. One in every of his earliest hits, Kadingo, was a music about private hygiene.

His music, which options components 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 music named Situka, wherein he mused: "When the going will get powerful, the powerful should get going, particularly when leaders turn into misleaders and mentors turn into tormentors."

The next 12 months, Bobi Wine turned his hand to politics.

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

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

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a54d/live/8f4cc420-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="BBC election graphics" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2417/live/97e1e110-ef8f-11f0-b5f7-49f0357294ff.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="BBC election graphics" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Round this time, Bobi Wine developed the Folks Energy motion, a stress group campaigning for higher democratic and social circumstances.

Members started sporting purple 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 title to the NUP and Bobi Wine was chosen to be its chief.

By 2021, he was able to problem Museveni within the presidential election. Throughout protests within the run-up to the vote, dozens of individuals had been killed and a BBC investigation found the security forces were responsible for at least some of these deaths .

Bobi Wine in the end misplaced the election. In response to the electoral fee, he gained 35% of the vote in comparison with Museveni's 59%, however Bobi Wine dismissed the outcomes, alleging fraud.

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, primarily based on his story, was nominated for an award

Regardless of his Hollywood credentials, Bobi Wine's politics and persona seem to not have shifted a lot since he broke out virtually a decade in the past.

Previous to his interview with the BBC final week, the NUP chief seamlessly blended in together with his younger employees, sporting shorts and informal clothes, chatting and high-fiving.

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 turn into president, his background might 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 unbiased in 1962.

As Bobi Wine doesn't have a navy or ministerial background and, conversely, reduce his tooth within the artistic 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 based on 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, typically sporting a protecting flack jacket and helmet.

Footage reveals his supporters accompanying his convoy, braving tear gasoline 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 shaped a human defend 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 return out and protest within the poll field."

Extra reporting by Catherine Byaruhanga and Sammy Awami

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