How Bobi runs his campaigns

Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, spent his Thursday night at a petrol station in Migeera Town in Nakasongola District on the Kampala-Gulu highway after security officials allegedly denied him access to a hotel he had paid for in Hoima. 

Security had earlier blocked Mr Kyagulanyi’s campaign activities in Hoima and he had been thrown out of a radio station three minutes into a talk show for which he had paid.

The National Unity Platform (NUP) party leader had concluded his last rally in Kiryandongo District, where he had been welcomed by live bullets and teargas after his earlier successful campaign in Buliisa District.

He could not hold his second campaign in Masindi District as stipulated in his programme. 

He opted to spend the night in Hoima City after which he would proceed to his next destination in Kyankwanzi, Kiboga and Kasanda districts.

The police said Bobi was not meant to be in the district and they could not control two presidential candidates in the same city since Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat had just launched his manifesto in the area.

Such has been Bobi’s campaigns filled with riots, teargas and live bullets, which in turn has left many of his supporters, who are always charged and ready to engage with the security officials physically, injured. 

The police have always accused the musician –cum –politician of campaigning in total disregard of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) against Covid-19. 

A case about the same is still at Iganga Magistrate’s Court, where he was bailed last week. 

The protests that followed his arrest claimed more than 50 people countrywide, according to police.

“We are always peaceful and have always advocated it but the brutal regime has always portrayed us as violent,” Bobi said in an interview for this story.

Asked why he has continued to gather crowds with the Covid-19 pandemic threat glaring, Mr Kyagulanyi said: “If Mr Museveni had known that it was dangerous to hold elections in such a time of Covid-19, he should have postponed it. We advised that he pushes the election for at least six months but because he feared the effects of this, he went ahead to organise the election, now he should let us campaign.”

Campaign plan
Sources privy to Bobi’s campaign plan indicate that the pop star doesn’t have a clear plan for the day. They say all he has to know is where he is going and he will do a quick survey of the issues on ground and craft the message for the people there.

“His major interest is in the youth and he knows these get bored with complex terms about governance and economics. He, as a person, is not an expert in the area so what he does is to shape his message around freedom and once in a while inspire them through his poetic language,” the source told Saturday Monitor.

Out of observation, Bobi Wine’s message is always tied around winning the hearts of Ugandans through a message he has dubbed, “mission to freedom”. He also uses his strong musical language and critical rhetoric against the current government to drive his message of freedom to people.

Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, the NUP party secretary general, says there is little time for them to reach out to all the people so they have decided to put their message into the manifesto, which they say will be uploaded on different online platforms.

“We have been forced to leave out some districts and we intend to use our coordinators in those areas to take our message.  We practically can’t spend a lot of time in one place since we have to move to three districts a day. In the past, people have been using more than one day in one districts but it is now different,” he says.

Some of the voters Saturday Monitor talked to in the field indicated that this method of campaigning would deny the chance for some people who are interested in listening to the message of the candidate before they make informed decisions.

Mr Steven Malinga, a voter in Soroti Town, says Bobi’s message is shallow for the people who are not excited about the political clout that he may gather in many places.

“As a person, I would like to hear which plans he has for the people and how he would execute them. His following is good but he is missing out some people who are keen on the message,” Malinga says.

For Bobi to perfectly fit into his age group, most of whom make up the majority of his supporters, he sometimes leaves his car and jogs or walks with them.

On November 14, the presidential candidate jogged with his supporters to his planned campaign rally in some villages in Amuria District. For more than four kilometers, he sweated it out with his youthful supporters to the venue where he addressed them.

“If you vote for Kyagulanyi, you will have your friend for president. You will have a president who can run with you, play with you and sing with you,” his message went.

Campaign management
His campaigns are mainly organised by the regional deputy presidents in the areas he is supposed to visit before he arrives for the campaign.

The northern campaigns were organised by Ms Lina Zedriga, the eastern rallies by Mr John Baptist Nambeshe, western by Ms Jolly Mugisha and Mr Mathias Mpuuga for the central region.

All parliamentary candidates have been programmed to be in the field for at least two weeks, depending on what someone wants. The whole of last week, Kawempe South candidate Muhammad Ssegirinya was on the trail together with Ms Nabila Nagayi Ssempala, who is vying for the Lord Mayor position, and Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake.

Ms Ssegirinya told Saturday Monitor that this not only gives them a chance to be visible with the president, it also helps them to make their contribution to the campaign.

“We shall all as parliamentary candidates be on the trail and give the president support and show him that we are here with and for him. I am happy to be here all the time but I will have to also run back to Kawempe South,” Mr Ssegirinya says.

Mr Zaake says: “When you are with the president, the whole world is watching and that is already a campaign for you. We use weekends to go back to our home and see family but also visit the constituents. That is why you will always see me next to the president.”

The campaign team has an advance team of about six members that is led by the NUP office secretary, Ms Sarah Mukisa, deputised by Ms Sauda Madada, who always moves forward of the entire entourage to pitch tents and put up chairs.

By last week, Ms Mukisa said they had been arrested more than six times in different places but she is quick to indicate that the police have always let them go after finding them innocent.  This team consists of only women.

Mobilisation

The regional deputy presidents and the candidates on the ground do the mobilisation work before reporting to the secretariat in Kampala, which is led by Mr Rubongoya.

Bobi’s entourage on a campaign trail is led by more than 70 party members and activists, another team of security who like to be called ‘bouncers’ is led by Mr Eddie Ssebufu, alias Eddie Mutwe.

These help in directing the traffic and engaging the police in case of any standoff while on the trail.

On the right and left hand side of Bobi Wine is Mr Ali Bukeni, alias Nubian Li, and Mr Dan Magic and their job is to give encouragement, inspiration and comfort. 

Typical day on Campaign trail

Mr Kyagulanyi says he loves sports, especially boxing, so he says his day starts at 6.30am with physical expel and jogging, which he says helps him to freshen up for the day before he gets onto the campaign trail. 

“The morning drills help me excoriate the teargas that I get every day and makes me physically fit because I am still young and energetic. I have to always keep fit and make sure I get into the best form every moment that I have,” Mr Kyagulanyi said, adding: “After that, I freshen up and have breakfast by 7.30am. I always make this heavy because while on the trail, there is almost no food. There is no time to eat.”

Mr Kyagulanyi starts his campaigns by around 8am, depending on the location of his first rally and after a brief meeting with his campaign team. Owing to the many crowds that keep coming close to him, his car is always ahead of all the others, followed by his bodyguards and the rest follow.

He says his first rally is at 10am, which lasts less than 30 minutes before he moves to the next destination, which is always a district away and depending on the distance between the two campaign venues Bobi holds his second rally at 1pm.

“We have very little time for campaigns and we have to reach as many districts as possible so we do campaigns in a very short time. Of course, the police are always frustrating our plans, they keep diverting us to impassable roads but we have the chance to meet people that side too,” he says.

In between the venues, Bobi has always taken time to interact with the police and other security officials. For instance, on Monday last week, while on his way from Bundibugyo to Bunyangabu District around the hills of Bunyangabu, Bobi broke into one of his songs, Bad Man from Kamwokya and he sang a few lines for the officers driving alongside his car. The faces of the officers beamed with ecstasy.

Mr Kyagulanyi’s last rally is always between 4.30pm and 6pm if the police does not disrupt his plans with teargas. He then takes a drive through one of the major towns in that region on his way to his hotel, where he would spend the night and settles to refresh at 8pm.

Sources within his camp indicated that the legislator always keeps alert because he is very cautious of his security and that makes him go to bed a little late.

What they say...

Bobi Wine, candidate: If Mr Museveni had known that it was dangerous to hold elections in such a time of Covid-19, he should have postponed it.

We advised that he pushes the election for at least six months but because he feared the effects of this, he went ahead to organise the election, now he should let us campaign.

Lewis Rubongoya, NUP party SG: We have been forced to leave out some districts and we intend to use our coordinators in those areas to take our message.  

We practically can’t spend a lot of time in one place since we have to move to three districts a day. In the past, people have been using more than one day in one districts but it is now different.

Francis Zaake, MP candidate: When you are with the president, the whole world is watching and that is already a campaign for you.

We use weekends to go back to our home and see family but also visit the constituents. That is why you will always see me next to the president.

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