ASSESSMENTS

The Pop Star Who Would Challenge Uganda's President

Sep 13, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

Police detain musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu – also known as Bobi Wine - during a demonstration on July 11, 2018, in Kampala.

Musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi is arrested by police before he was whisked away by his supporters during a demonstration on July 11, 2018 in Kampala to protest a controversial tax on the use of social media.

(ISAAC KASAMANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

Uganda's youth population is facing significant economic challenges and few job prospects, but Kampala is unlikely to create economic opportunities for them.
President Yoweri Museveni has been effective at sidelining challengers to his rule, but he will struggle to halt the rising popularity of Bobi Wine.
Because Museveni's assertion that he has brought stability to the unstable country is no longer relevant after three decades of rule, he will be forced to shift his message in order to co-opt the emerging youth movement against him.

The memo to authorities could hardly be more explicit: "This is a message to the government expressing exactly what is on the people's minds," Ugandan pop star Bobi Wine announces to open a single, "Freedom." In the song, the musician -- whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu -- sings that he and his followers are fighting for freedom. Authorities banned the song, but "Freedom" has only served as a prelude to the singer's political ascent this year -- as well as a bloody crackdown last month in which he was charged with treason and allegedly tortured in prison. For years, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has succeeded in neutralizing any potential threats to his power, but the chord that Bobi Wine has struck with ordinary citizens threatens the president unlike any other before. And as the wider continent's youth population booms, it's a note that might also resonate across Africa....

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