I want Museveni to retire respectfully, says Bobi Wine

Presidential aspirant Robert Kyagulanyi Monday said he would love to see President Museveni retire respectfully and “not go down like Bashir or Gadaffi” because he (Museveni) has done “some good things but his time has expired.”

Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir served as the seventh President of Sudan from 1989 to 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges.

On the other hand, Muammar Gaddafi seized control of the Libyan government in 1969 and ruled as an authoritarian dictator for more than 40 years before he was overthrown in 2011. He was assassinated on October 20, 2011.

The Kyadondo East MP popularly known as Bobi Wine also claimed President Museveni’s regime which has been in power since 1986 is scared of him as evidenced in the recent raid on the National Unity Platform (NUP) offices in Kamwokya. He also accused police and the military of removing and defacing his campaign posters as the general election draws closer.

“The regime is doomed if they let us campaign but it's also doomed if they don't let us campaign,” he said in an exclusive interview with NTV.

“This is going to be a new Uganda and for that reason, we want to live in a country where we have a resident former President,” the 38-year-old musician-turned politician said in response to the question on how he would treat President Museveni, 76, if he won the election come 2021.

In response on what he plans to do for Ugandans in diaspora if he became President, the Time Bomb singer said: “Ugandans are on their own until we have leaders who fear to offend us. You can't rely on someone who told you in your face that he isn't your servant.

Bobi Wine has become a popular figure among the youth in a country where the median age is less than 16. 

Since becoming an MP in 2017, he has been routinely arrested and put under house arrest, his concerts banned and public rallies dispersed with teargas.

After more than 30 years in power, the 76-year-old Museveni is the only president most have known.

Museveni, one of Africa's longest-serving rulers, had the constitution amended for a second time to allow him to run a sixth time in 2021.

His argument for the extended grip on the presidency is that Ugandans love him as evidenced by the results of the highly contested elections held after every five years.