By Spy Uganda
Kampala: People Power pressure group leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, who is also the Kyadondo East Member of Parliament, has launched a new pressure group called ‘Students Power Movement’ (SPM), which he intends to use to shake up the nation through causing uprisings among students the leader of the People Power movement has launched a student’s wing dubbed “students’ power movement.
Kyagulanyi, who launched the pressure group today at his home in Magere, Wakiso district, said that “The Students’ Power Movement will be the epicenter of ‘shaking up the nation’ to cause the long-awaited liberation.”
He revealed that “So far more than 700 students drawn from 240 public and private institutions of higher learning across the country have gathered here to witness the launch of the Students; Power Movement.”
It should be noted that student activism is a widely known phenomenon whereby students rally themselves and other citizens to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change and political analysts contend that Bobi Wine wants to use this strategy too.
Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political events as well.
The Kyadondo East Legislator, who has already indicated his intention to contest for presidency, said he has been moved by the students’ spirit showcased during their protests against oppressive policies.
Kyagulanyi said the students’ movement is going to be a special wing of the revolution, which will deliver the message of change to communities given the fact that many people believe in students who they see as intellectuals.
Benjamin Katana, the People Power Movement Legal Advisor, said they decided to take the struggle to students after noticing their courage and desire to challenge the status quo.
Roy Ssemboga, the Coordinator of Education Institutions in the People Power Movement, said that “As students we decided to join the struggle because of our conviction that the People Power ideology seeks to address the questiond of the time, which are critical to the youth and students looking forward to a better future.”
Ssemboga revealed that that destiny has called upon them and they have answered the call by shaking off their sleep to wake up and check government excesses of power and corruption. However, Bobi Wine warned the students who have chosen to join the struggle to prepare for a rough road ahead of them.
He said that “The challenges will range from being subjected to brutality, intimidation and attempts to buying them off. I ask you keep your eyes on the ‘crown’.”
But the development comes at the backdrop of the government’s assertion that several political actors are behind different student protests in public universities, with the latest ones being at Kyambogo and Makerere Universities.
At the height of the Makerere University protest against the cumulative fees increment last week First Lady and Education Minister, Janet Kataha Museveni claimed that the striking students had been bribed by opposition politicians to oppose government and that the protest were being funded by some local and foreign elements.
Although the students refuted the First Lady’s assertions, Bob Wine’s launching the Students’ People Power Movement and recruiting several students into the new pressure group’s ranks now shed more light about the involvement of political actors in the violent protests that rocked Makerere University last week.
