This article first appeared in Volume 53, Issue 4 of our print edition of Index on Censorship, titled Unsung Heroes: How musicians are raising their voices against oppression. Read more about the issue here. The issue was published on 12 December 2024.

In Uganda, to be an opposition politician is to be a marked man or woman. You can be taken out of action at any time.

This is one of the lessons that president Yoweri Museveni’s most formidable challenger – the popstar-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine – has learnt.

In September, just weeks before talking to Index, Wine was taken to hospital after the police fired tear gas to disperse his supporters in the town of Bulindo, about 17km north of Kampala. A canister exploded and fragments of the casing had to be removed from his leg.

Museveni, who stormed to power in January 1986 after waging a five-year guerrilla war against former President Milton Obote’s regime, has done everything in his power to bring the democratic process in Uganda to a halt.

He has changed the constitution on two occasions. In 2005, he removed the term limits (which stipulated that nobody could serve as president beyond two five-year terms) and in 2017, he removed the age limit (which stipulated that nobody could stand for president if they were older than 75). He turned 80 this year, but these amendments have enabled him to stay in power almost as a monarch – a point that was made by Joshua B Rubongoya in his 2007 book, Regime Hegemony in Museveni’s Uganda: Pax Musevenica.

Elections are held in Uganda, but they are usually a sham. Museveni is always assured of victory as he appoints the people who preside over elections. He ensures that the police not only intimidate voters but also brutalise opposition politicians, as myriad observers have noted.

Bobi Wine's live music ban

The violence meted out to opposition politicians does not end with elections – it is more or less a daily happening.

In August 2018, Wine survived an assassination attempt when a security operative opened fire on his car, believing that Wine – and not his driver, Yasin Kawuma – was at the steering wheel. Nobody has been arrested for Kawuma’s murder.

Beyond physical violence, Wine has also suffered as an artist through the government’s ceaseless quest to silence him. There’s effectively a ban on Wine’s live music, as he was last allowed to hold a concert in November 2018. Even then, the police first blocked the show several times, setting several impossible conditions to frustrate him. Public venue owners were also intimidated into not hosting his shows.

“Before joining politics in 2017 as a member of parliament for Kyadondo County East constituency in Wakiso District, Central Region, I used to hold at least two major concerts every year – on Easter Sunday and on Boxing Day,” Wine told Index.

“When we attempted to hold these concerts in 2019 and 2020, the military took over the venues. They claimed that I was using music concerts to pass political messages. Ironically, artists who are paid by the regime can hold concerts and pass any political messages as long as those messages are in support of the autocratic regime.”

Wine and his team decided to hold the concerts at his own property, One Love Beach, in Busabala. They also sought redress through the courts, which declared the blockages illegal. But in an autocratic regime the law does not matter if it goes against the official party line, and the ruling was ignored.

“Basically, the regime in Uganda has criminalised my music,” said Wine. “Many radio stations and TV stations hesitate to play our music for fear that the regime might clamp down on them.”

He has been denied access to radio stations on numerous occasions – especially those outside Kampala, where the regime deliberately keeps people in the dark.

“Sometimes, I am plucked out of a radio station even after the programme has started, as happened in Hoima, a city in western Uganda,” he said. “In fact, radio proprietors who have had the courage to host us have faced numerous challenges, including struggling to renew their licences.”

Ugandan radio silence

Sarah Muhindo, managing director of Kasese Guide Radio, confirmed to Index that hosting opposition politicians came with a lot of pressure, including being summoned by the authorities for “guidance” on how questions asked of politicians should be “balanced” to avoid bias.

The message to the radio station managers and owners is clear: “We are watching what you are doing and we are listening to what your visitors are saying.”

However, Wine sees a ray of light even in the dark tunnel of dire circumstances in which he operates.

“With all the censorship and the clampdown on our political activities, many people around the world have picked-up interest in our music and made every effort to look for it online or from other sources,” he said. “While autocratic regimes use censorship to silence critical voices, sometimes it is that censorship that amplifies our voices.”

After Wine did so much to awaken artists as advocates for social justice issues on behalf of the masses, Museveni’s brother Salim Saleh – chief co-ordinator of the government’s Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) – compromised artists and music producers with money and other favours.

This included handpicked artists being given training workshops after the Covid-19 pandemic and cash bailouts, which the OWC denied were being offered. These actions were widely understood to have been a way of dissuading them from working with Wine.
Early this year, Museveni appointed a popular music promoter, Balaam Barugahara, as a minister. It was common knowledge that he had previously avoided working with musicians critical of the regime. In August, Museveni appointed another musician, Eddy Kenzo, as a senior presidential adviser.

Both appointments were widely considered to do two things: reward musicians and promoters who distanced themselves from Wine as a way of weakening him, and send a message that any musician or promoter who is critical of the government can “convert” and become pro-Museveni, reaping the rewards.

Hidden messages

However, some artists such as Ssemanda Manisul (popularly known as King Saha) and Michael Kakande (also known as Kapalaga) have continued to make a stand by releasing revolutionary songs. King Saha’s shows have repeatedly been cancelled, while Kapalaga sings in exile.
Wine continues to sing, sometimes using allegories to disguise his message. Songs such as Kyarenga and Nalumansi, might sound like love songs on first hearing but are intentionally loaded with political messages about oppression, opportunism and liberation.

“You have to use imagery and proverbial language in order to elude censorship, and even possible prosecution,” he said, pointing out that radio stations brave enough to play his songs are more comfortable playing those that have political meanings hidden behind love lyrics.

“For instance, I don’t remember any radio station in Uganda playing Christopher Ssebaduka’s Ogenda, which I redid in the aftermath of the rigged 2021 presidential election, because I was very direct in that song. Our song directed at security operatives, Afande, also faced extreme censorship as the mainstream media was ordered not to play it.”

Wine has been able to use platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X to pass on his message. But the regime imposed a social media tax in 2018, forcing people to pay to use popular platforms to limit “gossip”. This did not deter Ugandans from re-sharing Wine’s songs. Museveni then banned Facebook in January 2021, ahead of the contentious election, accusing the company of arrogance after it removed a network of fake accounts and pages linked to his re-election campaign. The ban has not been lifted, although Ugandans continue to access the platform through VPNs.

Wine is also collaborating with international artists to amplify his message across borders. He and co-singer Ali Bukeni, popularly known as Nubian Li, featured in a single entitled Such A Beautiful Day, released in August by the global World Funk Orchestra. The song celebrates hope and freedom in the quest for a better day – a message relevant to Ugandans. Seeing Wine and Li take part in the song without any police or military officials assaulting them is a reminder that a lot of work needs to be done to ensure that similar artistic freedom prevails at home.

Wine argues that there is nothing that people cannot achieve if they are united.

“This is why General Museveni is investing billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money every year to ensure that artists do not unite. I wish my brothers and sisters would look beyond the small monies thrown at them and unite for the greater cause,” he said.

He concluded by observing that autocrats throughout history have used censorship to try to silence musicians, authors and other creatives, but no amount of censorship ever prevented their inevitable fall.

He said: “I call upon Ugandans and all friends in the international community to do more to support all creatives in repressive regimes. By amplifying their voice and messages, you are playing your part in ensuring that eventual freedom is won.”