Musaazi Namiti
Bobi Wine, aka Robert Kyagulanyi, is lucky that the tear gas canister that hit his left shin on the evening of September 3 did not stray into his face. He would almost certainly be struck blind. The attack in Bulindo, about 20km north of Kampala, was not the first. Six years ago, security forces shot and killed Mr Kyagulanyi’s driver, Yasin Kawuma, in Arua. Kyagulanyi was campaigning for former Arua Municipality MP Kassiano Wadri, who went on to win the by-election.
Mr Kyagulanyi, 42, claimed he was the target and that he survived because he was not in the car. But the beating meted out to him after security forces arrested him was so severe it left him with horrific injuries, and he had to seek medical treatment in the United States. When he declared he would challenge President Museveni for the presidency in 2021, the State ramped up its violent crackdown.
His bodyguard named Frank Ssenteza was killed after being deliberately run over by a pick-up truck belonging to security forces. And dozens of his supporters have since been tortured and jailed.
Two weeks ago, he shared (on social media) photos of himself and senior NUP officials visiting Kitalya prison, where many of his supporters are jailed. There is probably no better evidence of the suffering Mr Kyagulanyi has endured since he started opposing rotten leadership than his film titled Bobi Wine: The People’s President. The film, which was nominated for the Oscars, sums up the trials and tribulations of his campaign against the NRM and Mr Museveni.
Even after all that we have seen the State doing to Mr Kyagulanyi, nothing had prepared his supporters for what happened on September 3. Much to their embarrassment, the police issued a risible statement, saying Mr Kyagulanyi “stumbled” and hurt himself. But a video posted to Mr Kyagulanyi’s X account after the incident has someone saying “shoot him”. Seconds later, Mr Kyagulanyi is hit by the canister and falls down and is carried by his supporters unable to walk. This violent clampdown on a politician who has the constitutional right to compete for national leadership is hard to understand.
Mr Kyagulanyi may be outspokenly critical of Mr Museveni and his NRM, but his (sometimes) acerbic criticism is justified. Only people benefiting from the rotten leadership he has campaigned so bravely to get rid of can pretend Uganda is managed well.
We hold elections in Uganda, but anyone who views the current leadership as something less than an autocracy cannot be taken seriously. True democracies do not harm Opposition politicians who are out to meet supporters.
They do not kill Opposition politicians’ drivers; they do not kill their bodyguards. Mr Kyagulanyi is being targeted because he and Dr Kizza Besigye are the only Opposition politicians who have tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to loosen (in a manner of speaking) NRM’s grip on power.
Dozens tried and gave up; others have died, leaving the ruling NRM in power. The State needs to draw a lesson from the September 3 incident. Mr Kyagulanyi’s popularity will increase, not decrease, after the brutal, gratuitous attack. He may not be able to beat Mr Museveni at the ballot in 2026, but that is only because presidential elections in Uganda are a charade.
If we were able to hold free and fair elections, like well-established democracies, Mr Museveni would have no chance of remaining in the State House. Of this I do not have the smallest doubt, and I am certain I am not the only Ugandan.
Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the
Africa desk
[email protected] @kazbuk
