Bobi Wine, prepare kitchen sink, dirty dishes and leftovers

What you need to know:

  • Spreading rumours. In these periods, every rumour that ridicules one, trivialises their cause and makes them look bad and unserious, will be spread.
  • They will be ostracised and all efforts will be made to ensure their support base deems it risky to associate with them. Some of their close friends might denounce and denigrate them.

At the weekend, I was ‘educated’ on yet another excuse for the apparent rise and rise of Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi, 36, aka Bobi Wine. My correspondent who seemed dead serious claimed that Bobi Wine, whose movement with a huge youth following, has popularised the catch phrase “People Power, Our Power”, is a ‘project’ of the Buganda Kingdom. So said he, that Bobi Wine, who refers to himself as “Omubanda Wa Kabaka”, which loosely translates into a strong loyalist, supporter, fanatic or follower of the King of Buganda, is a “Muganda nationalist”, who is sponsored by Mengo to spearhead a breakaway of Buganda from Uganda, having so far failed with the quest for a federal state.

He then took me through the reasons as to why he thought it would fail. Chief among them was that NRM had united Uganda and that those sort of ‘machinations’ had no room in a united Uganda. He switched to the enduring argument: “Bobi Wine is sponsored by what he called the homosexual movement of the West.” The finer details are that in case they succeed, they would ban religion in Uganda and will allow gay marriages and sodomy. A president Bobi Wine, who grew up in the slums of Kamwokya, often described as ‘the ghetto’, will grant licence to unfettered smoking of marijuana and use of other drugs. Lastly that he will hand over Uganda’s oil reserves to the West like it has happened in Libya and Iraq.

He revealed to me that those in charge of security have uncovered a plot by Bobi Wine supporters to cause mayhem by burning the city, looting property, and beating up those who don’t support their cause. Their aim will be to scare away investors and tourists thus denying the government the much needed foreign exchange. He augmented this by referring to Bobi Wine’s international lawyer Robert Amsterdam, who called on investors to think about quitting Uganda because of human rights abuses.

If you have lived in Uganda long enough, you get a sense of déjà vu. In 2001 when the then candidate of the Reform Agenda (RA) Kizza Besigye first stood against President Museveni, cases of ‘supporters’ of Reform Agenda clad in white t-shirts with Besigye’s portrait causing mayhem were rampant. The leadership of RA claimed that these were a form of agent provocateur, whose sole purpose was to paint RA as a group of violent lumpens. That would give the authorities an excuse to break up their rallies, detain their supporters and disrupt their agenda. RA then ironically stopped their supporters from wearing these t-shirts. In fact, they warned that anyone seen wearing their own RA t-shirts would be viewed as an enemy! The incidents faded away.
Some people who associated themselves with RA in that election had trouble retaining their jobs after that election. It taught people not to come out openly with the Opposition.

Come 2006, Besigye then leading FDC, had to deal with a rape case and treason charges as he campaigned against Museveni. All of them came to nothing. As time went on, people would rise up and accuse Besigye of sponsoring them to fight and burn the city, fight the government and cause havoc and mayhem. At other times, they went to his home demanded to be paid arrears for the services rendered during his campaigns. The police followed him everywhere he went and blocked him from leaving his residence in what was termed as ‘preventive arrest.’ Some colleagues and close confidants within FDC at times crossed to NRM or openly criticised Besigye claiming he was “worse than Museveni.”

The lesson for Bobi Wine is that to oppose a well-entrenched government like NRM is in Uganda, one must develop a thick skin and be prepared for a tumultuous long haul. In these periods, every rumour that ridicules one, trivialises their cause and makes them look bad and unserious, will be spread. They will be ostracised and all efforts will be made to ensure their support base deems it risky to associate with them. Some of their close friends might denounce and denigrate them.

Treason complete with ‘captured fighters, guns and pangas’ provided by ‘a foreign country,’ the courts and jail will always come in handy to curtail their freedom. Some hilarious cases like stealing tomatoes and chapattis may arise along the way. Then there may be young men clad in red, People Power t-shirts causing mayhem, looting and beating up people on the purported orders of ghetto president Bobi Wine.
This one is famous in the book of tricks. The perpetrators of this mischief strive to associate themselves with an individual to tarnish his name. I recall in 2009 when the Kabaka was stopped from visiting Bugerere, which displeased many people across the country leading to demonstrations.

Hoodlums took advantage of this and went on the rampage grabbing food and merchandise from innocent people. They went away claiming that ‘the king had gifted them’ (Kabaka agabudde.) They asked people to speak in Luganda or narrate their ancestry (tambula ngo Muganda), failure of which they roughed them up to give the Kabaka and the protest against his restriction, a bad name.
Bobi Wine, be prepared to be hit with the kitchen sink, dirty dishes and leftovers. In Uganda, aspiring for State power is akin to poking the back side of a leopard -very risky and costly.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. [email protected]. Twitter:@nsengoba