Published April 14, 2025

Uganda's Bobi Wine Still Fighting for Democracy

By MD

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I meet Bobi Wine as he visits London. He's seeking support for his campaign to rid Uganda of what he calls the 'brutal rulership' of President Yoweri Museveni who will have led the country for 40 years in 2026. That's when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential election.

Will Bobi run again? 'Here I am,' he says, 'not that I'm the alpha and omega, not that I'm the ultimate. But I've said I'm available if I'm required to lead…'

We look back at what happened at the last general election in 2021, which Bobi and his supporters say they won. 'We defeated them but the entire world watched as many of our campaign team was massacred…'

I ask him how he keeps going after all the beatings, the torture, the house arrest. He replies ' I'm in a better state than so many of my comrades in the struggle. They get locked up, they get beaten and nobody knows. When I get arrested the whole world knows…So I keep going by looking behind me. I get the least of the oppression and the most of the attention. But my friends that suffer in the dark are not complaining. They keep going.'

What about your wife, Barbie and your four kids? Bobi says the whole family has agreed that although their activism is dangerous, it would be even more dangerous to give up.

What did the recent by-election in Kawempe North, which Bobi's NUP won, tell him about how the general election is likely to be fought? There was well-publicised violence and claims of rigging. 2026 will be a protest vote, says Bobi. 'We know that we will win the vote. But I'm not sure if we will win the count.'

Bobi reveals that he's in talks with Dr Kizza Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change about the possibility of collaboration. Dr Besigye's continued imprisonment, Bobi says, 'is meant to intimidate all of us.'

We touch on one of the controversial issues in Uganda today: human rights particularly as experienced by the LGBQT+ community. A much younger Bobi Wine, as a musician, had been associate with homophobic lyrics. Today, he has a more nuanced approach to the matter: 'The west should stop looking at the LGBT rights as the only human rights, otherwise they will provoke Africans and people of the world start imagining that there's a hidden agenda. People get killed every day in Uganda and they should all have rights.'

We end our chat on a rather optimistic note: 'The future doesn't have to hold anything for me as an individual. I look at this as all of us. The future is robust. The future is hopeful'.




I meet Bobi Wine as he visits London. He's seeking support for his campaign to rid Uganda of what he calls the 'brutal rulership' of President Yoweri Museveni who will have led the country for 40 years in 2026. That's when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential election.

Will Bobi run again? 'Here I am,' he says, 'not that I'm the alpha and omega, not that I'm the ultimate. But I've said I'm available if I'm required to lead…'

We look back at what happened at the last general election in 2021, which Bobi and his supporters say they won. 'We defeated them but the entire world watched as many of our campaign team was massacred…'

I ask him how he keeps going after all the beatings, the torture, the house arrest. He replies ' I'm in a better state than so many of my comrades in the struggle. They get locked up, they get beaten and nobody knows. When I get arrested the whole world knows…So I keep going by looking behind me. I get the least of the oppression and the most of the attention. But my friends that suffer in the dark are not complaining. They keep going.'

What about your wife, Barbie and your four kids? Bobi says the whole family has agreed that although their activism is dangerous, it would be even more dangerous to give up.

What did the recent by-election in Kawempe North, which Bobi's NUP won, tell him about how the general election is likely to be fought? There was well-publicised violence and claims of rigging. 2026 will be a protest vote, says Bobi. 'We know that we will win the vote. But I'm not sure if we will win the count.'

Bobi reveals that he's in talks with Dr Kizza Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change about the possibility of collaboration. Dr Besigye's continued imprisonment, Bobi says, 'is meant to intimidate all of us.'

We touch on one of the controversial issues in Uganda today: human rights particularly as experienced by the LGBQT+ community. A much younger Bobi Wine, as a musician, had been associate with homophobic lyrics. Today, he has a more nuanced approach to the matter: 'The west should stop looking at the LGBT rights as the only human rights, otherwise they will provoke Africans and people of the world start imagining that there's a hidden agenda. People get killed every day in Uganda and they should all have rights.'

We end our chat on a rather optimistic note: 'The future doesn't have to hold anything for me as an individual. I look at this as all of us. The future is robust. The future is hopeful'.




I meet Bobi Wine as he visits London. He's seeking support for his campaign to rid Uganda of what he calls the 'brutal rulership' of President Yoweri Museveni who will have led the country for 40 years in 2026. That's when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential election.

Will Bobi run again? 'Here I am,' he says, 'not that I'm the alpha and omega, not that I'm the ultimate. But I've said I'm available if I'm required to lead…'

We look back at what happened at the last general election in 2021, which Bobi and his supporters say they won. 'We defeated them but the entire world watched as many of our campaign team was massacred…'

I ask him how he keeps going after all the beatings, the torture, the house arrest. He replies ' I'm in a better state than so many of my comrades in the struggle. They get locked up, they get beaten and nobody knows. When I get arrested the whole world knows…So I keep going by looking behind me. I get the least of the oppression and the most of the attention. But my friends that suffer in the dark are not complaining. They keep going.'

What about your wife, Barbie and your four kids? Bobi says the whole family has agreed that although their activism is dangerous, it would be even more dangerous to give up.

What did the recent by-election in Kawempe North, which Bobi's NUP won, tell him about how the general election is likely to be fought? There was well-publicised violence and claims of rigging. 2026 will be a protest vote, says Bobi. 'We know that we will win the vote. But I'm not sure if we will win the count.'

Bobi reveals that he's in talks with Dr Kizza Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change about the possibility of collaboration. Dr Besigye's continued imprisonment, Bobi says, 'is meant to intimidate all of us.'

We touch on one of the controversial issues in Uganda today: human rights particularly as experienced by the LGBQT+ community. A much younger Bobi Wine, as a musician, had been associate with homophobic lyrics. Today, he has a more nuanced approach to the matter: 'The west should stop looking at the LGBT rights as the only human rights, otherwise they will provoke Africans and people of the world start imagining that there's a hidden agenda. People get killed every day in Uganda and they should all have rights.'

We end our chat on a rather optimistic note: 'The future doesn't have to hold anything for me as an individual. I look at this as all of us. The future is robust. The future is hopeful'.




I meet Bobi Wine as he visits London. He's seeking support for his campaign to rid Uganda of what he calls the 'brutal rulership' of President Yoweri Museveni who will have led the country for 40 years in 2026. That's when Uganda is scheduled to hold its next presidential election.

Will Bobi run again? 'Here I am,' he says, 'not that I'm the alpha and omega, not that I'm the ultimate. But I've said I'm available if I'm required to lead…'

We look back at what happened at the last general election in 2021, which Bobi and his supporters say they won. 'We defeated them but the entire world watched as many of our campaign team was massacred…'

I ask him how he keeps going after all the beatings, the torture, the house arrest. He replies ' I'm in a better state than so many of my comrades in the struggle. They get locked up, they get beaten and nobody knows. When I get arrested the whole world knows…So I keep going by looking behind me. I get the least of the oppression and the most of the attention. But my friends that suffer in the dark are not complaining. They keep going.'

What about your wife, Barbie and your four kids? Bobi says the whole family has agreed that although their activism is dangerous, it would be even more dangerous to give up.

What did the recent by-election in Kawempe North, which Bobi's NUP won, tell him about how the general election is likely to be fought? There was well-publicised violence and claims of rigging. 2026 will be a protest vote, says Bobi. 'We know that we will win the vote. But I'm not sure if we will win the count.'

Bobi reveals that he's in talks with Dr Kizza Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change about the possibility of collaboration. Dr Besigye's continued imprisonment, Bobi says, 'is meant to intimidate all of us.'

We touch on one of the controversial issues in Uganda today: human rights particularly as experienced by the LGBQT+ community. A much younger Bobi Wine, as a musician, had been associate with homophobic lyrics. Today, he has a more nuanced approach to the matter: 'The west should stop looking at the LGBT rights as the only human rights, otherwise they will provoke Africans and people of the world start imagining that there's a hidden agenda. People get killed every day in Uganda and they should all have rights.'

We end our chat on a rather optimistic note: 'The future doesn't have to hold anything for me as an individual. I look at this as all of us. The future is robust. The future is hopeful'.



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