By Mulengera Reporters
During a Sunday online media appearance as he launched the NUP Podcast, the day’s moderator Lawel Muhwezi (a NUP insider) asked Bobi Wine to share his observations and insights from the ongoing campaign trail. And even without applying much thought onto the question, the NUP President spontaneously said things hadn’t turned out the way he and his handlers anticipated.
Asserting that the 2026 Presidential elections was his to win and proceed to become Uganda’s President, Mr. Wine admitted that he expected, prepared and planned to participated in a campaign that would be bloodier and more violent than the one of 2021, which he controversially lost to Gen YK Museveni, who has been Uganda’s President since 1986 without break.
Mr. Wine explained that he and his handlers had been surprised at the restraint and professionalism with which the Police and other regime security forces had acted so far, while dealing and interfacing with him and his supporters across the country.
He elaborated that even when though some incidents have cropped up, such as the bust up with Museveni vigilantes in Rushere, the campaigning process had so far generally been peaceful. He asserted that the election turning out violent or peaceful all solely depended on how well and professional Police and other security agencies conducted themselves on the trail.
He made it clear that he and his supporters can only be victims, whose conduct and response can only be in reaction to how brutally or decently security agents treat them. In making the above referenced admission, Mr. Wine inadvertently gave credit to the very regime his interview was intended to discredit.
Mr. Wine explained that he and team members had to adjust to a new reality of having to compete with Gen Museveni, whose security forces they expected to act more brutally than has turned out to be the case thus far. He explained that this restraint by security forces isn’t because Gen Museveni has all of a sudden become more tolerant than before.
He elaborated that it’s because of the damage the 2021 violence globally caused to the reputation and image of Uganda as a country and Museveni as a leader. He said the 2021 security forces’ brutality had been replaced by very crippling restrictions that had been put in place to prevent him from having processions and driving through high people-concentration centers like major towns and major highways and roads.
“They keep diverting us to taking longer routes to deny us publicity that comes with meeting with many people while in transit and to also exhaust us physically and resource-wise,” Mr. Wine concluded his submission on that point. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
