Hounded and harassed: Former pop star taking on Uganda's long-time president

Bangla Press Desk:  With his charisma, tenacity and everyman appeal, music star Bobi Wine has shaken up Ugandan politics.

Since his career pivot a decade ago, the 43-year-old has become a major thorn in the side of President Yoweri Museveni, an 81-year-old who has been in power for 40 years.

Bobi Wine has enchanted legions of young Ugandans, a demographic that makes up a large portion of the country's population. Having grown up in the slums of the capital, Kampala, he dubbed himself the "ghetto president" and campaigns on issues such as youth unemployment and human rights.

On 15 January, Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, after the former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, will compete against Museveni in a presidential election for the second time. But the odds are stacked against him.

Since entering politics, the self-styled revolutionary has been imprisoned and faced several criminal charges.

His plight has piqued attention around the world - in 2018, musicians including Coldplay's Chris Martin and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, signed a petition demanding his release from custody.

Wine was held on charges relating to the illegal possession of firearms, but the case was widely viewed as being politically motivated. He was subsequently also arrested for treason, but eventually, all of these cases were dropped.

There was further outrage in 2021, when the police shot at Bobi Wine while he was campaigning.

"I am the most connected candidate to the population," he told the BBC during his campaign for the forthcoming election.

"That is why among the eight candidates, I am the most hounded, I am the most harassed, I am the most feared."

The authorities have repeatedly denied that the arrests of Bobi Wine, and supporters and members of his National Unity Platform (NUP) party, have been political. They say any detentions have been necessary to maintain law and order.

The president has also accused Bobi Wine of holding violent rallies in built-up areas, putting his supporters and the general public at risk - an allegation denied by the opposition leader.

When Museveni took office in 1986, Bobi Wine was just about to turn four.

Museveni and his rebel National Resistance Army (NRA) had seized power in an armed uprising.

Bobi Wine's grandfather, Yozefu Walakira, was part of a different rebel contingent but from time to time during the conflict, he hosted Museveni in his home.

Bobi Wine spent much of his childhood in Kampala. His mother Margaret Nalunkuuma, a nurse, was the main breadwinner and raised him on the land she bought in the Kamwokya slum.

As a teenager, Bobi Wine gained a passion for the arts. He attended Uganda's prestigious Makerere University, earning a diploma in music, dance and drama in 2003. He met his wife and the mother of his four children, Barbara "Barbie" Itungo, when he was a student and they starred in the same play.

After university, Bobi Wine embarked on a music career, branding his craft "edutainment", that is, entertainment that educates. One of his earliest hits, Kadingo, was a song about personal hygiene.

His music, which features elements of reggae, Afrobeats and traditional Ugandan rhythms, gained a large following, and established him as a champion for social and political change.

Despite his mounting fame, Bobi Wine chose to continue recording in a music studio he had built in the Kamwokya slum. He also worked as an actor.

In 2016, many of the country's famous musicians backed President Museveni's re-election. Bobi Wine, however, held out.

He released a song named Situka, in which he mused: "When the going gets tough, the tough must get going, especially when leaders become misleaders and mentors become tormentors."

The following year, Bobi Wine turned his hand to politics.

He ran in a by-election for the Kyadondo-East constituency as an independent candidate, facing politicians from the ruling NRM and the FDC, which was Uganda's second-biggest party at the time.

He won by a landslide, securing more than five times the total votes of his NRM opponent.

Despite his Hollywood credentials, Bobi Wine's politics have not shifted much since he broke out almost a decade ago.

BP/SP