Bobi Wine versus Muhoozi

2023 achievements, hopes for 2024

COVER STORY | IAN KATUSIIME | Bobi Wine’s visit to the U.K. after a ten year visa ban capped a year where his political significance soared again after the lull of last year. The party Bobi Wine founded, the National Unity Platform (NUP), went through a re-awakening in 2023 starting with the release of its two jailed MPs, a rousing national tour and the launching of the NUP headquarters in Kampala.

The resurgence of the youngest party coincided with the ebbing away of Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba and his MK Movement–after the momentum established in 2022–with the countrywide birthday celebrations, rabble rousing tweets, and the high profile visit of Rwandan President Paul Kagame who graced Muhoozi’s birthday dinner at State House Entebbe.

Bobi Wine was under a U.K. visa ban when one of his songs was deemed to contain homophobic slurs. In his return to the country, the 2021 presidential candidate was interviewed by the BBC over the matter and he said he had a turn around.

“I wrote the lyrics and sang them. I took responsibility. Certainly, we grow and transform. Of course this is now the same thing. I’m tussling it out with General Museveni who deliberately sponsored the law,” is how he put out his position on gay rights. But Bobi also came under fire for saying the law was passed to target the opposition.

On reflection, Bobi was wading into an issue that remains central to Ugandan politics. People were quick to point out that he was playing politics since he was visiting a country with sections that strongly back his party and where sentiments against the Ugandan government can sprout depending on the day’s politics.

Some of the criticism came from the corner of Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa, who was the key mover of the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Basalirwa, who is president of the JEEMA party, was elected to parliament on the coattails of Bobi Wine.

But in a letter addressed to the opposition leader on his remarks on homosexuality, Mohamed Kateregga, the Secretary General of JEEMA expressed “deep concern and disappointment made against your colleagues and members of parliament from the opposition.” Since Basalirwa is the president of JEEMA, it is assumed Kateregga was acting as a proxy.

The anguished letter berates Bobi Wine for accusing opposition lawmakers of working with President Yoweri Museveni to pass the law. NUP MPs all jumped on board in passing the law that has been a lightning rod in Uganda and abroad. Bobi Wine’s visit to the UK, on top of his tours to other Western capitals, has been the highpoint of a year in which the largest opposition party returned to the fold.

In the last three months, NUP led an opposition boycott of parliament activities in protest of the government’s failure to address the issue of missing persons, abductions, kidnaps and extra judicial killings. At the centre of the melee is Francis Zaake, Mityana Municipality MP, who announced on Nov. 28 that he would no longer attend meetings of the Rules and Discipline Committee of Parliament.

As the NUP-opposition led a boycott of parliament, Muhoozi’s only visible activity recently was a speech he gave at the Busoga Royal wedding in Jinja in November. The event also captured the animosity between the two political actors. Reports say Busoga kingdom officials informed Bobi Wine and told him that he would have to stay away from the event due to the likely tension between security forces and Bobi’s entourage.

Zukuka tour

That episode was preceded by the rousing tour Bobi Wine held in August and September across the country dubbed Zukuka Uganda or “Wake Up”. The mobilisation tour energised thousands of party faithful dealing with comrades who are still missing from kidnaps, detention and those who have been killed in Bobi Wine’s contest with the state.

Bobi Wine’s NUP is hoping for a better performance to tap into vote margins in the western and northern part of the country where it is struggling to make inroads.

Often flanked by secretary general Lewis Rubongoya, spokesperson and Nakawa West MP Joel Ssenyonyi, MPs Francis Zaake and other party stalwarts, they started in Mbarara in the western part of the country, traversed Fort Portal, Kasese, Kabale, then to eastern Uganda; combing through the districts of Jinja, Mayuge, Mbale, and Busia, then to parts of the north and central in Luweero district.

As the caravan trekked across the country, Bobi Wine was giving a stirring of political speech upon speech that touched at the core of some of the most pressing socio-economic issues such as land grabbing, declining household income, and poor healthcare.

The mapping of the tour looked strategic. It began in Mbarara City where he opened a NUP office. Bobi Wine got just 4,586 votes, approximately 8.1% to President Yoweri Museveni’s tally of49, 807 or 87%. By starting his tour in the western region, Bobi Wine signaled his hopes to improve his electoral fortunes where it scored a measly against Museveni.

The next stopover in Luwero was also certainly not by accident as it is where a 36-year-old Museveni based his guerilla war against the government of Milton Obote in the 1980s. Museveni was nearly the same age as when Bobi got into politics in 2017 when he vied for the Kyadondo East MP seat and roared to victory in an unforgettable by-election.

On the tour, Bobi Wine told Ugandans to resist the long rule of President Museveni. “It’s game over for Museveni and he is now trying to impose his son on us,” he would always tell the excited crowds who turned up.

He would say, “The power is in your hands and this tour is meant to charge you up.” Donning bark cloth and brandishing some regalia, Bobi Wine often reminded the crowds about the killing of Ugandans by security forces when protests broke out following his arrest during the 2021 election campaigns.

The NUP tour came on the heels of Muhoozi’s rallies in Bukedea and Soroti where he had the same message but with different strategy: vote for me. With two years to the start of the campaign season in 2025, all indications are that the country will be in full electioneering mode by this time next year.

Security stayed away from the NUP rallies upcountry but indicated that they were not willing to let Bobi bring his road show to his core support base, Kampala district.

Suddenly the police started intercepting multiple unexploded Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) and threats of terror bombing threats in the capital city district. These drew suspicion from a skeptical public and NUP leadership.

When Bobi Wine was on tour in Arua and readying to return to Kampala, Deputy Inspector General of Police Maj. Gen. Tumusiime Katsigazi bit the bullet and wrote to Bobi Wine warning him that he would need permission from the force to continue with his rallies.

That is how NUP cut short the tour. But Bobi Wine and senior NUP leaders like Secretary General Lewis Rubongoya were soon on a flight to Canada. The two month tour became another highlight for NUP as it marked its third anniversary.

NUP had launched the Zukuka-Wake Up mobilisation tour in February dubbed Kunga Uganda at their later to be launched party headquarters in Kavule, Makerere not far from Kampala’s central business district. However the NUP called it off.

The event at Makerere attracted hordes of supporters, party MPs, and other well-wishers. It was also timely because of what the party had just emerged from: the release of its two critically ill MPs; Mohammed Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewanyana, after a gruesome jail stint.

The detention of Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana had become a referendum on Uganda’s criminal justice system but the state dug in with judge after another recusing themselves from hearing their bail applications. Ssegirinya remains ill while Ssewanyana has resumed his political life.

In the crusade to get all political prisoners released, the NUP offices in Makerere have become a rallying point for all those demanding for the release of their loved ones from the government. The case of John Bosco Kibalama who was disappeared by state agents on June 3, 2019 has become a matter of ping pong between the government and the family.

Kibalama was whisked away on Martyrs Day and he is now a political martyr whose matter is at the heart of parliament, ministry of internal affairs and NUP. On October 13, Kibalama’s wife, Monica Kibalama, told journalists that she has been to several police stations, CMI offices and other security agencies. She said she was shocked to see the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja narrate on television how Kibalama was being held for allegedly killing police officers last year yet he had disappeared three years ago.

NUP headquarter

Amidst the cries however NUP had a silver lining when it ticked off another milestone with the launch of its new offices in Makerere Kavule amid fanfare after intimidation and delaying tactics from the police. The three-year old party’s successful construction of a party headquarters, seen as a symbol of long-term commitment, generated criticism for the ruling party; the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which has failed to construct a home after almost 40 years in power. It rented office headquarters remain in a dire state.

But NUP’s launch of its gleaming offices was not uneventful. On what was the initial day of the launch, police halted activities on the basis that President Museveni was set to ply the route where the offices are located.

On launch day, former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye joined Bobi Wine, together with other party leaders and supporters to commission the new office. The office is adorned with images of NUP’s fallen members who have been abducted and killed by security forces since 2020 when NUP registered as a party. NUP Secretary General Lubongoya announced at the event that the party’s has a school of leadership in the offing.

As NUP basked in the glory of its tour, activities in parliament and new headquarters, Muhoozi retreated from the spotlight which he relished previously. However Muhoozi’s association with President Kagame remains a trump card for him. In April, Kagame hosted a birthday dinner for Muhoozi at his home in Rwanda in an event that pundits say gave the Ugandan First Son diplomatic leverage.

Kagame’s praise of Muhoozi as a peacemaker between Uganda and Rwanda has won the latter plaudits in some sections of the Ugandan public and elevated his profile as a presidential candidate.

“We are friends and we are at peace thanks to General Muhoozi for your role in this and for your conviction,” Kagame said at the dinner.

Kagame and Muhoozi have now met five times since last year cementing a bond between a key leader in the region and one aspiring to take over in another country. Muhoozi’s delegation to Rwanda comprised ministers; Jim Muhwezi, Nobert Mao, MP Lillian Aber, journalist Andrew Mwenda, businesspersons and other individuals close to the First Son.