Uganda’s ‘People’s President’ Bobi Wine talks to Nat Geo following house arrest

ByDavid Beard

Published October 5, 2023

• 3 min read

Pro-democracy leaders often do not fare well in authoritarian societies. On Thursday, musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine returned to his home of Uganda only to be greeted by police. Video showed plainclothes men grabbing him and placing him under house arrest; authorities say they merely escorted him home.

Wine had lost a disputed election in 2021 for Uganda’s presidency—and authorities had sought to stop a planned march in support of Wine from the airport. Supporters were arrested, and journalists were pepper-sprayed and beaten by security forces, Wine said.

Wine’s journey from music to leadership is at the core of a just-released National Geographic documentary, Bobi Wine: The People’s President.

Later Thursday, Wine safely arrived at his home, his wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, told Nat Geo in a brief conversion. Video shows Wine urging government security members to leave his property. His home detention has been condemned by the United States, among other nations—and a shaken Kyagulanyi said the international support has been a comfort.

The opposition leader has endured periodic detention following his 2017 election to Parliament and during his 2021 presidential run. He has said that he keeps protesting the 37-year rule of Yoweri Museveni because an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.

“Under a criminal regime, everyone is a victim,” Wine said on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

The U.S. State Department expressed concern that the detention of Wine and hundreds of his supporters Thursday “mean democratic space is shrinking in Uganda. Harassment of opposition voices and of human rights abuses damage prospects for Ugandan progress and its partnership with the international community.

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