After his release from a brief detention on the last day of official campaigns, Robert Kyagulanyi ( popularly known by is stage name Bobi Wine) agreed to shift his last campaign rally to a different venue, according to him, to avoid a ‘presidential embarrassment.’ This was because President Yoweri Museveni had taken to the same venue to campaign for the NRM candidate in the race. Well, if he goes on to win by a landslide as projected, he will have caused not just a presidential embarrassment but a double presidential embarrassment.
He will have defeated president Museveni and FDC president Mugisha Muntu, both of whom campaigned vigorously for their party candidates. If you throw Besigye in the mix, he will have done a triple. Norbert Mao’s DP saw this coming and took to their heels withdrawing their candidate earlier in the race and offering no official support for any of the remaining contestants.
This further compounds Bobi Ugandan Macron analogy. During his campaign, he not only ditched established political parties banners to campaign as an independent political novice, but also transformed electioneering and electoral organizing by opting for door to door campaigns instead of large rallies. He spoke the people’s language, associated with their plight and did not make outlandish political promises that we have become accustomed to.
When his political friend, or so we thought, Dr Besigye made no single appearance at his campaign rallies, he did not whine but went ahead to trounce the FDC maestro in his own backyard. He beat the FDC candidate at Besigye’s village and trounced the NRM candidate at the venue president Museveni pushed him off on the last day of campaigns.
If you thought Bobi was only a musical genius, he has proved that he can also be a political gem. Many artists who called him names including the big baby who still lives in his father’s home in Kiwatule, now look so politically naive and shortsighted, not to mention stupid. Bobi has had the last laugh showing maturity, a deep sense of political connectedness and reading of the political terrain.
