Does Bobi Wine survive the election in Uganda?

The presidential election in Uganda is on January 14, 2021. The election campaign is dramatic. The election could be catastrophic. Museveni has been in office for the past 34 years. Now he is challenged by 38-year-old Bobi Wine. Wine, or Robert Kyagulanyi as he is actually called, became a member of parliament in 2017. He made a name for himself quickly, and already in the autumn of 2017 was he at the forefront of the fight against the extension of the constitutional age limit for the presidency.

Now 76-year-old Museweni needed this change. He got it, and during the conflict he gave his opponents a taste of what violent methods he is willing to use to hold power. They are brutal, but also overt, like sending thugs into parliament to beat up political opponents.

So far, 56 people have been killed during the election campaign. These were people protesting against the recent arrest of Bobi Wine. Police and military fired aimlessly. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs then expressed concern about the political violence during the election campaign. "My sympathy goes to the victims. In line with EU High Representative Josep Borrell Fontelles, Norway urges the Government of Uganda to ensure the safety of all candidates and voters". This was written by Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide in a statement on 19 November. The incidents were also reported in the Norwegian media.

It is likely that Bobi Wine will win a fair election, but this is not happening. He has been arrested twice since the start of the election campaign last month. His employees are arrested, his cars are shot at and the public rallies look like battlefields after the intervention of the armed forces. Today, they arrested Wine's longtime friend and co-worker, Norbert Ariho. They accused him of planting a tear gas grenade near Wine. TV pictures have already shown that the grenade was fired by the security forces

Uganda: Can Museveni stop the music?

Can music be stopped? This is a real challenge for President Museveni in Uganda. One of the country's most popular musicians, Bobi Wine, is in the front of opposition to him. Museveni has therefore given the media a ban on interviewing Wine, and concert organizers can no longer put Wine on program.

Bobi Wine is cultural activist, raised in Kampala's ghetto, and a popular musician with appeal to Uganda's young population. This summer he also was elected for Parliament. He won his circuit with seventy per cent of the votes. This autumn, Parliament should decide whether the upper age limit for the presidency was to be removed from the constitution. Museveni needs such a change in order to continue in his presidency, and Bobi Wine stood in the forefront to avoid the change. It ended with exclusion from parliament, repeated imprisonments and explosives through the windows of his house. The censorship is the latest in this long line of sanctions and treats from the president.The media and concert bans have been impossible to enforce for Museveni. Bobi Wine is the national champion of social media. Images, words and music are shared in hundreds of thousands, and his live performances are done with unmatched strength.

And the young people sing along, they dance and share tones and text. The Museveni-critical general Davis Sejusa recently made a Twitter message confirming the president's impossible project: "Bobi Wine represents the old struggle between tyrants and artists. Tyrants both hate and fear the artists”. Bobi Wine will only spread faster.It is not often that I meet cultural activists who enter the political system, as Bobi Wine has done with his place in parliament. Usually they stand outside, and see politics as the same affair as Bobi Wine now has experienced from inside. Cultural activists are massively involved in civil society, from where they work for democratization of both society and the political system. The Arab Spring in 2011 is the great example of the group's ability to mobilize. In Uganda, a similar mobilization is taking place right now. The question here is whether the president stops the music or the music stops him.