Ugandan popstar-politician out with song targeting police on third day of house arrest
Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - A Ugandan popstar-politician who has been under house arrest, has used his time at home to compose a song targeting Ugandan security personnel who he says are being used as tool to oppress him.
Robert Kyagulanyi, whose stage name is Bobi Wine, was locked up at his home on Monday after he got into a confrontation with the police that blocked his music concert that had been scheduled for that day.
Kyagulanyi, a member of parliament who has announced that he will challenge long-serving president Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 election, built countrywide fame during over a dozen years of releasing hit songs. He is looking to ride on this fame to capture the presidency.
With his house just outside Kampala surrounded by policemen and other security personnel who have blocked him from leaving the house for three days, Kyagulanyi has resorted to singing for the uniformed officers. He is using his popularity on social media, especially Facebook, to do this.
This morning, Kyagulanyi was relayed on a live link on his Facebook page as he worked with his long-serving staff to rehearse a song targeted at the servicemen.
“Officer, I am not fighting you; I am fighting for you,” the lyrics, which are repeated in seven different Ugandan languages, said.
Speaking about the song on the Facebook link, Kyagulanyi said that he is confident that the message will find favour with policemen and soldiers, especially in view of what he called poor working conditions and low pay that they face.
President Museveni, who came to power using force of arms in 1986, has heavily relied on the army for his 33 years in charge, especially since 2001 when Dr Kizza Besigye, who was his physician when he fought the war that brought him to power, first challenged him for the presidency.
After a heavily militarized campaign and election which Museveni won, Besigye was placed under 24-hour surveillance by the military, which he only stealthily beat to scape to exile in South Africa.
Besigye returned to the country to challenge Museveni for the 2006 election and the militarization of elections did not stop, with the army and police playing a key role during campaigns and elections. The trend continued until Kyagulanyi emerged as a challenger for the presidency in 2017, sharing the burden with Besigye.
The police and the military are now often divided between dealing with the two opponents of the president. In the recent weeks, when the police were not stopping Besigye on his countrywide tours aimed at mobilizing Ugandans to rise up against Museveni who Besigye says rigged the 2016 election and must leave power now, they were stopping Kyagulanyi from organizing concerts which often degenerate into campaign rallies.
Kyagulanyi, who has already released a number of politically loaded songs, said on his Facebook page that he will release his latest song addressed to the security personnel “to recruit them on the side of the people”.
-0- PANA EM/VAO 24Apr2019
