DISPATCHES
The decision by the Ugandan state to seal off the headquarters of Bobi Wine's National Unity Party (NUP) on 22 July ahead of a major planned anti-corruption demonstration betrays its fears about youth-driven protests taking root...
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His opponents argue that under Mayiga the kingdom hasn't been sufficiently supportive of musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine the leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and the most potent challenger to President Yoweri Museveni (AC Vol 65 No 11 How family and the army dominate Museveni's endgame)...
Buganda is Bobi Wine's political base and most of his and the NUP's votes came from the region; over 90% of the NUP's MPs hail from the kingdom (AC Vol 65 No 5 Rifts threaten Bobi Wine's party)...
They prefer musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine who is 42 and Museveni's most potent challenger...
Before the 2021 presidential election in which Bobi Wine emerged second after Museveni the military arrested tortured and killed opposition supporters (AC Vol 61 No 24 Museveni falls back on force)...
Vol 65 No 10 |
- UGANDA
- BRITAIN
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 'Bobi Wine' who heads Uganda's leading opposition party the National Unity Platform (NUP) said that Britain's strictures may not put the corrupt officials behind bars but that the politicians who have been sanctioned will have their travel restricted along with their capacity to invest stolen funds...
Now it is time for them to lay in the bed that they have made ' said Wine (AC Vol 65 No 5 Rifts threaten Bobi Wine's party)...
Supporters of Uganda's biggest opposition political party the National Unity Platform (NUP) of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 'Bobi Wine' are warning that generational jealousy and pressures to compromise could cause splits that damage its prospects in the 2026 general election...
Internal tensions are more dangerous than external threats many of Bobi Wine's followers believe especially given the experience of opposition parties such as the Democratic Party (DP) and the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) both of which dominated from the 1960s until 1996 but then lost relevance...
Bobi Wine commands the youth vote the biggest demographic but was also the kingmaker in central Uganda...
The NUP won 90% of the seats in Buganda and practically all candidates not linked to Bobi Wine lost their seats...
As the leader of the dominant party with 57 seats Bobi Wine although not an MP himself had the choice of whom to nominate as Leader of the Opposition a post that comes with perks including government allowances...
DiscordIt wasn't long before Bobi Wine supporters were accusing Mpuuga of creating another centre of power in parliament and not doing enough to press the government for the release of political prisoners or reveal the whereabouts of NUP supporters who had 'disappeared' during the election period...
She also cordially praised Mpuuga on her X account leading Bobi Wine supporters in the party to demand his sacking...
Bobi Wine also responded positively...
The NUP started organising there towards the end of 2022 until January when campaigning was suspended by Mpuuga in his capacity as NUP deputy president for central region amid suspicions that Bobi Wine supporters were intent on ousting him and members of his faction...
Mpuuga's supporters based their suspicions on the fact that the organiser of the national mobilisation activities is Nyanzi Fred Ssentamu Bobi Wine's brother...
Hard questions are being asked about the future of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) the second biggest opposition party after Bobi Wine's National Unity Platform (NUP) after accusations that it received billions of shillings from President Yoweri Museveni ahead of the 2021 elections caused deep splits...
Before the last election the FDC and Besigye refused to make common cause with Bobi Wine the upstart newcomer with only three years in politics but an immense national following...
He is promoting his Justice Minister Norbert Mao of the Democratic Party (DP) as a key candidate in the north to balance loss of support in central Uganda to Bobi Wine and his National Unity Platform (NUP)...
The nature of the event made it obvious that support for Bobi Wine in central Uganda is so strong that Museveni has more or less written it off for 2026...
Neither the veteran oppositionist Kizza Besigye who stood against Museveni four times nor Bobi Wine who leads Uganda's opposition has said anything on the subject...
According to a tweet by NUP leader Bobi Wine on 21 January Among had paid 6 million shillings (US$1 600) each to members of the Parliamentary Commission the chamber's disciplinary body to exclude NUP MP Francis Zaake last year...
He said he was returning the money because Bobi Wine had ordered any party members who had received such payments to do so...
The 2021 elections involved massive security deployments to suppress and kill protestors loyal to pop star turned opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) and revealed the extent to which the regime was prepared to go to curb dissent on the streets...
The 2021 elections involved massive security deployments to suppress and kill protestors loyal to pop star turned opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) and revealed the extent to which the regime was prepared to go to curb dissent on the streets...
The endorsements indicate the President who will be 82 in 2026 is cooling on nominating his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba 48 to succeed him (AC Vol 63 No 24 Bobi Wine rights campaign sparks more protests)...