By Peter Ssebulime
Kampala: A bitter verbal war has erupted between President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and People Power stalwarts, to wit Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
It all started when President Museveni asserted that Bobi Wine is an enemy of the people of Uganda because of sabotaging investment by discouraging investors from investing in Uganda.
In reaction to the President’s assertions, People Power leader Bobi Wine refuted the allegations and called Museveni a shameless liar.
President Museveni featured on the BBC Friday morning for an interview with Allan Kasujja, during which he described Bobi as an “enemy of the country’s prosperity.”
Museveni said that when Bobi Wine went to Europe and America after the Arua Municipality by-election fracas in August 2018 he begged Europeans not to come and invest in Uganda.
However, Bobi Wine, who has already declared his intention to challenge President Museveni come 2021 General Elections, refuted the allegations.
He said he has just joined the political scene and shouldn’t be blamed for the country’s probelms. He warned those donors who are helping Uganda to be mindful of their assistance, to ensure it is not used to deny Ugandans their rights and freedoms.
President Museveni who has ruled Uganda for the past 33 years told Kasujja that he still has unfinished business in Uganda as President and would only leave if asked to do so by his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Meanwhile, many of Bobi Wine’s supporters continue to flee Into hiding, claiming they are being persecuted in Uganda. Sources that so far several members of Bobi Wine’s People Power group have fled to various countries around the world for fear of persecution in Uganda.
The unlucky ones have been arrested, tortured and others disappeared without a trace, while others are languishing in Safe Houses across the country.
As a way of helping those still alive, Bobi Wine and Kawempe North legislator Latiff Ssebagala a few weeks back raised the issue before Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, which later summoned security minister Gen. Elly Tumwine to answer the queries about constant abductions, torture and detention of Ugandans, especially People Power supporters in Safe Houses.
However, Minister Tumwine scoffed at the Commission and said that the Legislators had no authority to question the existence of or visit safe houses.
Because of this continued threats against their lives, numerous People Power supporters like Golooba Yokana, David Tumusiime, former Simba FM presenter Kapalaga, to mention but a few have since fled into hiding, because supporting People Power, being a member of the Pressure Group, or wearing the Red Beret is currently a crime in Uganda that can lead one to being arrested.
