Blackmailing Bobi Wine based on his BBC Interview won’t rebrand the NRM Party

Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu who is popularly known by his stage name Bobi Wine visited the BBC in the United Kingdom after many years of being sidelined for his controversial song on homosexuality.

He was welcomed with hard questions which he answered with a very high level of wisdom. He did his best but not the satisfaction of some propagandists who saw an opportunity to gain some political capital using the BBC interview as a yardstick.

These regime propagandists who include NRM party leaders and RDCs went up in arms with a smear campaign condemning Bobi Wine for his BBC comments regarding his past, present and future thoughts on homosexuality. They are trying to portray Bobi wine as a two faced leader as far as the subject of homosexuality is concerned.

Some have gone to the extent of labeling him a homosexuality ambassador as if they are not aware that the ghetto gladiator is a married man with children. They are short of referring to him as gay just because he presented a soft attitude towards homosexuals and yet he gave convincing reasons for his views. Bobi Wine insisted that he had evolved over time and he is no longer the Bobi wine that he used to be having become more tolerant. His reasoning is that he is a product of very many second chances and that he want to be remembered as such.

Bobi Wine is also quoted for having faulted some of his MPs for working with Museveni but that could have been an indictment for Museveni as a leader who is not tolerant to dissenting views and is ready to compromise the opposition using some of the money borrowed from the west. Locally, the comment stirred a debate, raising questions about Uganda’s political landscape more so that Museveni wants to create a one party state and leave it for his son.

In that infamous BBC interview, Kyagulanyi was also asked about his thought on the Anti-homosexuality Act and particularly what he would do with the law if he were to become the president. Aware that the question was ill intentioned, Kyagulanyi’s response was candid and indirect. He expressed his belief that the Act was not introduced for the benefit of the local person but a tool for Museveni’s regime to suppress opposition.

Kyagulanyi emphasized the risks associated with speaking out against the law, noting that it could endanger him, his party members and family. To be honest, Kyagulanyi’s cagey response at the interview highlights the complexities and potential dangers involved in addressing a sensitive subject like homosexuality in front of the camera. Even Museveni himself would approach this polarising issue with caution.

However, nobody should imagine Bobi Wines’s BBC interview will affect his popularity among the masses. Ugandan all over irrespective of their social, political and economic status are tired of the NRM regime and Museveni is very much aware of this fact. That is why regime sympathizers including some cultic Hajji Pastor are working around the clock to use the misconceived short falls of the interview to remain relevant.

Kyagulanyi is also very much aware of the dangers of being at loggerheads with the west and the rigged Ugandans and that is why he has to balance between the popularity of the Anti Homosexuality Act in Uganda and its unpopularity in the Western nations who have a belief that the law is a tool for violation of the rights of the LGBTWQ+ persons.

Weeks ago, the President’s son in law Adrek Rwabogo was in America begging the Biden administration to restore Uganda on the list of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiaries. Launched in 2000 and reviewed in 2015 for another 10 years, AGOA is a landmark preferential trade program that allows sub-Saharan African countries including Uganda to export duty free products to the United states of America.

Their reasons for scrapping Uganda off the list of beneficiaries starting January, 2024 is that we failed to  meet eligibility requirements  specifically for alleged gross violations of internationally recognized human rights which of course include the so called rights of LGBTQI+  persons against whom we enacted and passed the Anti Homosexuality Act, 2023.

That being the reasons for our expulsion from AGOA, what do you think Rwabogo told the American delegation that he met to have Uganda given a second chance. Could he have given them assurance that the law will be repealed? Any right thinking Ugandan will know that we cannot retain the law and the AGOA free trade market.  It is now obvious that we cannot be reinstated on that list until we commit that the Anti Homosexuality Act will be scrapped.

So when you see the Minister for ICT and National Guidance- Dr. Chris Baryomunsi reminding the Americans that Uganda is a sovereign country which does not legislate for the Western world, you wonder if he is reading from the same script as his appointing authority. When you have a country that is always begging, call it borrowing to sustain itself, you cannot call yourself a sovereign state but you must dance to the tunes of the giver.

So to say, Ugandans must watch out for two things, since the AGOA expulsion starts January, 2024, I do not think the courts of law would have disposed of the four consolidated homosexuality petitions. We just have to look out for Biden’s next decision. Should Uganda be given a green light to remain a member of AGOA, just be sure Uganda has already committed itself in writing to have the Anti Homosexuality Act nullified.

So for those on a smear campaign against Kyagulanyi need to understand that international relations require nothing less of double standards. One has to find a means of satisfying the interests of the money givers without having to offend those that have the vote. Playing on the minds of the two needs brains and that is why I believe Bobi Wine did not make any mistake in that infamous BBC interview.  Who knows if the moderator was a paid mercenary?

If the same questions were put to some of the people with Presidential ambitions in 2026, some would simply tell the moderator to pass the question for lack of a relevant answers or would just answer not knowing that every answer given can have many interpretations and that is why I credit Bobi Wine for being the intelligent chap that he is.

When President Museveni signed the Anti Homosexuality Act, 2023 into law, he clearly knew the kind of response he would receive from aid givers. He was also aware of the sentiments of the voters with their rigged cultural and religious backgrounds. He also had a plan in mind on how he would give the law with one hand and take it away using his well entrenched mechanisms. His plan was to walk-in-dirty and walk out clean.

I just want Ugandans to understand that even the Government is trading with caution and will not come out openly to side with those who favour these homosexuals. They must be seen to be fighting to appease Ugandans and yet act differently behind closed doors. Has anyone wondered why regime sympathizers have not come out to condemn Andrew Mwenda or Fox Odoi for petitioning court to nullify the entire Anti Homosexuality Act, 2023?

These two petitioners are known to be insiders of the regime; one would not be mistaken to think they are simply working to execute the wishes of the Chief Executive. I want to ask a very simple question to the regime propagandists. Between Bobi Wine who is being faulted for having a soft approach on homosexuality and the duo of Andrew Mwenda and Fox Odoi who want the law pulled down, whose actions are directly lenient to the homosexuals?

Lastly, has anybody bothered to find out why the Attorney General worked in vain to block Pastor Martin Ssempa’s application to join as a Respondent yet his views on the moral and ethical aspects of homosexuality were considered during the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, they see him as a saboteur who could frustrate their plans of helping the petitioners pull down the Anti Homosexuality Act by the stroke of a pen.

Come rain come shine, the Anti Homosexuality Act, 2023 will not survive the dictatorial long hand of the donors; the law will be knocked down with a blessing of our government for the sake of holding on to power and the need for foreign aid. There is nothing any Uganda can do to stop homosexuals from ruling the world, not even Bobi Wine.

Our leaders would rather sacrifice our values for favours and the aid coming in from the super wealth nations. The law will thus be knocked down for fear of sanctions and closing the funding gap that the Uganda Government cannot do without. Whatever will befall the Act at the final hammer will be an apology to our financers that we made a mistake to dare the men and women in the rainbow colours-the alphabets.

The author, Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues