Critic of Ugandan state in court

A POP singer and critic of Uganda’s government was due to face a military court yesterday for his alleged role in clashes in which President Yoweri Museveni’s motorcade was attacked by people throwing stones.

Lawmaker Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, whose stage name is Bobi Wine, will be tried under military law because he allegedly possessed a gun when he was arrested in the northwestern town of Arua earlier this week, a government official said.

Ssentamu’s wife insisted he doesn’t know how to handle a weapon, and rights activists demanded his release.

Three other lawmakers arrested with Ssentamu were charged with treason in a magistrate’s court yesterday. It was not immediately clear what charges Ssentamu might face.

He has not been seen or heard from since his arrest, and many were worried about his safety after Uganda’s deputy prime minister told lawmakers he had been hospitalised in custody, without giving details.

Ssentamu and other politicians, including Museveni, were in Arua on Monday campaigning in a by-election.

Ssentamu’s driver was shot dead in the clashes there. The lawmaker later posted a picture of the dead man on Twitter, saying he had been killed by the police “thinking they’ve shot at me”.

A group of lawmakers authorised by the parliament speaker to travel to the northern town of Gulu, where Ssentamu was believed to be detained, told reporters yesterday they had been denied access to their colleague.

Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger, who has himself been detained many times, told reporters Ssentamu’s case highlighted what he called “the hopelessness” of parliament before a military regime.

Museveni said Ssentamu and others would be “punished according to the law”.

Ssentamu, who is his 30s and was elected to parliament last year, has emerged as a powerful voice with his calls for young people to “stand up” and take over this East African country from what he calls the current government’s failed leadership.

In hotly contested by-elections this year he has backed candidates who emerged victorious. Many followers urge him to run in the next presidential election in 2021.