The former pop star ran against Yoweri Museveni in the Ugandan elections

With his charisma, tenacity and everyman appeal, music star Bobi Wine has shaken Ugandan politics.

Since his career pivot a decade ago, the 43-year-old has been a major thorn in the side of President Yoweri Museveni, an 81-year-old who has been in power for 40 years.

Bobi Wine has attracted legions of young Ugandans, a demographic that makes up a large portion of the country’s population. Having grown up in the slums of the capital, Kampala, he calls himself the “ghetto president” and campaigns on issues such as youth unemployment and human rights.

On January 15, Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, next to the former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, will compete against Museveni in a presidential election for the second time. But the odds were stacked against him.

Since entering politics, the self-proclaimed revolutionary has been imprisoned and faced numerous criminal charges.

His situation has attracted worldwide attention – in 2018, musicians including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, signed a petition asking for his release from custody.

Liquor is being held on charges related to illegal possession of firearms, but the case is widely viewed as politically motivated. He was later also arrested for treason, but eventually, all these charges were dropped.

There was further outrage in 2021, when police shot dead Bobi Wine while he was campaigning.

“I am the most connected candidate to the population,” he told the BBC of his campaign for the upcoming election.

“So of the eight candidates, I’m the most feared, I’m the most harassed, I’m the most feared.”

Authorities have repeatedly denied that the arrests of Bobi Wine, and supporters and members of his National Unity Platform (NUP) party, were political. They say any detention is necessary to maintain law and order.

The president also accused Bobi Wine of holding violent rallies in built-up areas, putting his supporters and the general public at risk – an allegation the opposition leader denied.

When Museveni took office in 1986, Bobi Wine was almost four years old.

Museveni and his rebel National Resistance Army (NRA) seized power in an armed uprising.

Bobi Wine’s grandfather, Yozefu Walakira, was part of various rebel groups but from time to time during the conflict, he hosted Museveni in his home.

Bobi Wine spent most of his childhood in Kampala. His mother Margaret Nalunkuuma, a nurse, was the main breadwinner and raised him on the land she bought in the Kamwokya slum.

As a teenager, Bobi Wine developed a passion for art. He attended the prestigious Makerere University in Uganda, obtaining a diploma in music, dance and drama in 2003. He met his wife and the mother of his four children, Barbara “Barbie” Itungo, when he was a student and they starred in the same play.

After university, Bobi Wine began a career in music, labeling his craft “edutainment”, that is, entertainment that educates. One of his earliest hits, Kadingo, was a song about personal hygiene.

His music, with elements of reggae, Afrobeats and traditional Ugandan rhythms, gained a large following, and established him as a champion for social and political change.

Despite his rising fame, Bobi Wine chose to continue recording in a music studio he built in the slums of Kamwokya. He also works as an actor.

In 2016, many of the country’s top musicians supported the re-election of President Museveni. However, Bobi Wine refrained.

He released a song called Situka, in which he thought: “When the going gets tough, the tough must go on, especially when the leaders become deceivers and the teachers become tormentors.”

The following year, Bobi Wine turned his hand to politics.

He ran in a by-election for the Kyadondo-East constituency as an independent candidate, facing politicians from the ruling NRM and the FDC, which was the second largest party in Uganda at the time.

He won by a landslide, getting more than five times the total votes of his NRM opponent.

During this time, Bobi Wine developed the People Power movement, a pressure group that campaigned for better democratic and social conditions.

The members began to wear a red beret, which to this day remains the mark of the opposition leader.

After Bobi Wine was repeatedly blocked from registering People Power as a political party, he joined the lesser known, already registered NURP. The party then changed its name to NUP and elected Bobi Wine as its leader.

By 2021, he is ready to challenge Museveni in the presidential election. In the run-up to the vote, many people, many of whom are believed to have been shot by security forces, have died. Bobi Wine ultimately lost the election, getting 35% of the vote compared to Museveni’s 59%.

Two years later, the story of the leader of the NUP immortalized in a National Geographic documentary, titled Bobi Wine: The People’s president. The film was distributed worldwide and earned an Oscar nomination.

Despite his Hollywood credentials, Bobi Wine’s politics haven’t changed much since he broke out nearly a decade ago.

He remains proud of his humble background and still focuses his campaigns on issues such as corruption, youth unemployment and wealth distribution.

But there is concern that should, against all odds, he becomes president, his background may count against him.

The military is influential in Ugandan politics – however, they have ousted or attempted to oust many leaders since the country became independent in 1962.

Since Bobi Wine has no military or ministerial background and, on the contrary, cut his teeth in the creative sector, it will be difficult to get the armed forces to take him seriously as president.

It was a view he rejected.

“Uganda has been ready for a civilian leader since time immemorial,” he insisted, adding that according to Uganda’s constitution, the military should be under civilian authority.

When voting day came, Bobi Wine campaigned across the country, often wearing a protective flack jacket and helmet.

Footage showed his supporters accompanying his convoy, bravely firing tear gas and water cannons by security forces.

At a stop in northern Uganda, uniformed men beat Bobi Wine’s supporters with sticks as they formed a human shield around the opposition leader.

His supporters remained steadfast and loyal, holding rallies despite the threat of violence.

Bobi Wine is also irresistible.

“This election is about freedom,” he said. “It’s about freedom, it’s about people expressing their voices. We’re asking people to come out and protest at the ballot box.”

Additional reporting by Catherine Byaruhanga and Sammy Awami