SHAME ON YOU BOBI: Stella Nyanzi Blasts Bobi Wine for Betraying Struggle by Shunning Besigye Protests

Famous Ugandan writer, academic and political activist Dr Stella Nyanzi has castigated leaders of opposition political party and pressure groups, including Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine of the National Unity Platform (NUP) for reportedly not being committed to the struggle to end President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s rule, and for shunning efforts by Dr Kizza Besigye. 

Besigye, a former presidential candidate, resumed anti-Museveni protests weeks ago. A former bush war personal physician to Museveni, Besigye is currently protesting the high cost of living as fanned by the rising prices of commodities, as well as an alleged plan for President Museveni to help his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba succeed him.

A former president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Besigye has in recent weeks been put under house arrest or blocked from leaving his home. Security seem afraid of allowing Besigye, a political activist, whose 2011 walk-to-work protests shook Museveni’s regime to the core, to protest on the streets.

But while Besigye was the most prominent opposition figure in 2011 when the walk-to-work protests shook Museveni, the ground seems to have shifted, or is at least divided. The former bush war fighter opted out of the 2021 presidential election. Pop star Bobi Wine and his NUP eclipsed Besigye and FDC as the Museveni’s main electoral challenger and major opposition political party, respectively.

The ongoing protests largely remain an initiative of Dr Besigye and his People’s Front for Transition (PFT) or Red Card Front. Opposition party leaders have stayed away from the protests, choosing to tweet in the comfort of their homes or to make statements of solidarity at press conferences and in statements.

Nyanzi, a card-holding member of Besigye’s FDC, has now called out the opposition politicians for showing no commitment to end Museveni’s rule.

“While my heart bleeds about the violent arrest of Rt Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye, my spirit is deeply encouraged by his determination and commitment to the liberation struggle in Uganda. The People’s President has big [booluzi]!” said Nyanzi.

“What are all the other leaders of Uganda’s opposition doing to raise resistance against dictator Museveni’s excesses and oppression?”

Nyanzi, who is currently self-exiled, further noted that the so-called opposition politicians who have abandoned Besigye should be ashamed of themselves. She accused them of betraying the struggle against Museveni.

“Shame on Bobi Wine, Mugisha Muntu, Rtd Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde, Norbert Mao, Joseph Kabuleta and any other so called leaders of the opposition in Uganda who merely stop at tweeting their solidarity! Where are the [booluzi] in your [pantisi] – if any? Wooooowe – muswadde [shame on you]!” she further wrote.

RISING COMMODITY PRICES

Prices of goods have risen across the country. The Museveni Government has attributed the skyrocketing prices on external factors. Besigye and his colleagues in the PFT Red Card Front say the president has failed to offer any tangible solutions for citizens surviving in an economy battered by the effects of the Covid19 pandemic.

In one of President Museveni’s recent speeches, he told Ugandans to eat cassava if they cannot find or afford bread, a piece of advice akin to what Marie Antoinette gave peasants complaining of the prices of bread before the French Revolution. (Read Story Here).

Besigye has also told Museveni to reduce the size of his government and to fire Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and their deputies so that they can go home and grow more cassava for the Cassava Republic. (Read Story Here).

At the weekend, Museveni used over one hour to explain to Ugandans why the prices of commodities had increased. He also attempted to justify the state of the economy. His advice, generally, was that Ugandans should increase production and shun imported goods. (Read Full Speech Here).

MUHOOZI-MUSEVENI SUCCESSION

In power since 1986, Museveni is currently aged 77 and will have ruled Uganda for four decades by the end of his current five-year term in 2026. Using his recently concluded — or rather unending — 48th birthday parties across the country, Lt Gen Kainerugaba, who is also the Commander of UPDF Land Forces, to hint on a possible presidential bid.

Besigye has called on Ugandans to rise up and oppose the Museveni-Muhoozi Succession, a project that former spymaster Gen David Sejusa (Tinyefuuza) hinted on in 2013. The opposition leader says citizens must rise up and demand a meaningful transition from military to civilian rule.

A retired colonel, Besigye has since made it clear that he would never salute Muhoozi even if he became president, becoming the second former bush war fighter to openly say so. (Read Story Here).

Erias Lukwago, Besigye’s deputy at the PFT, described Muhoozi as ‘a very reckless general with nothing but the gun and a birth certificate indicating that Gen Museveni is his father. (Read Story Here).

FEARLESS MP TELLS MUSEVENI: Give Your Son Muhoozi & Wives List of Your Properties before You Die; We Won’t Allow Them to Inherit Uganda

I’M NOT YOUR BROTHER: Bobi Wine Fires Back at Muhoozi, Tells Him ‘You Can Only Inherit Your Father Museveni’s Cows — Not Uganda