‘GHETTO PRESIDENT’ RETURNS
Pop star-turned-politician vows to fight on
Uganda’s pop star politician Bobi Wine is vowing to continue his fight for more freedom in the country “or we shall die trying”. The singer, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, spoke to reporters shortly after police escorted him home from the airport amid heavy security yesterday.
UGANDA’S pop star politician Bobi Wine is vowing to continue his fight for more freedom in the country “or we shall die trying”.
The singer, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi spoke to reporters shortly after police escorted him home from the airport amid heavy security yesterday.
“I didn’t know where they were taking me. They just grabbed me,” he said.
He addressed his supporters outside his home later.
The 36-year-old, who calls himself “the ghetto president”, has arguably become the biggest threat to the country’s autocratic leader of more than three decades, Yoweri Museveni, 74.
He faces a charge of treason after his arrest last month over his alleged role in an incident in which the president’s convoy was pelted with stones.
The singer and opposition politician denies any wrongdoing, saying that “it looks like the government is determined to keep us slaves in our own country”.
Kyagulanyi said he would stay in Uganda because “I cannot be a refugee”. He grew up poor in a Kampala slum before going into music.
Chopping off his dreads and donning chic suits, he later transformed into a political force, running in last year’s parliamentary elections and winning.
He is now a member of parliament for Kyadondo East constituency.
Yesterday, supporters defied a heavy security presence and gathered at his residence to welcome him home from a trip to the US.
Kyagulanyi had been to America to receive treatment for injuries he said were sustained during torture by security forces. The government has denied any mistreatment, but says it is investigating the allegations.
The return of the musician-turned-legislator has rattled the government, led by Museveni, who leads a nation where nearly 80% of the population is under the age of 30.
Kyagulanyi wrote on Twitter before flying home that he should be able to travel freely in his country.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Kyagulanyi had been taken to a police station in his Kampala neighbourhood, and journalists and supporters in the area waited outside the station, believing him to be inside.
Police later said he had been “peacefully escorted” home.
A representative for Robert Amsterdam, one of Kyagulanyi’s attorneys, confirmed the politician had been taken to his home. Residents in his neighbourhood said they had tried to wait for him near his home, but were chased away by security forces, though several hundred people later gathered outside the house. Many wore red T-shirts and hats. The colour has come to be associated with his “People Power” movement, and demonstrators at Ugandan embassies in London, Nairobi and elsewhere have donned the colour during protests.
Kyagulanyi’s message – that young Ugandans need a dynamic new head of state to tackle the myriad problems they face – has electrified citizens, who say they are fed up with corruption, unemployment and state r epression of dissent. The government denies allegations of corruption and of stifling opposition.