April 2020 | Rolling Stone | 29
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office, allied with Wine
and People Power. In re-
cent months, both Dr. Hil-
derman, a dancehall art-
ist running for Parliament,
and Ronald Mayinja, a pi-
oneer of politically con-
scious music also contesting a par-
liamentary seat, have at times found
promoters unwilling to book shows.
Cynical observers see the increas-
ing politicization of music as a career
move. “Fact is, music is not profitable,”
says Lwanga. “So when people saw the
success Bobi had, he inspired a whole
string of artists to join that direction.”
Bebe Cool, a staunch ally and friend
of Museveni’s for decades, is among
the cynics. He expects most musicians
running for office will get trounced.
“One, they lack budgets,” he says.
“Two, they’re not as educated. Three,
when you see crowds, it doesn’t mean
they transform into votes.”
Jose Chameleone is running for
mayor of Kampala. He’s heard these
criticisms, but he’s anxious to con-
vince me — and others — of the sincer-
ity of his campaign. “I’m not going to
become famous being mayor of Kampa-
la,” he says. “I’m not going to fly busi-ness class being mayor. I’ve
done that. I want to con-
tribute my legacy to the
people denied a chance.”
Dennis Tumuhairwe, a
leader of the Uganda Young
Democrats and Wine’s for-
mer political assistant, believes the
music community will prove a deci-
sive force. “Having major artists join
the opposition to take Museveni down
seems like a done deal for Museveni,”
he says. “We think we’re starting a rev-
olution we’re going to win.”B
OBI WINE is almost certainly
going to lose the election in- That’s if he’s even allowed
on the ballot — and alive to see it. De-
spite the semblance of democratic
norms, Uganda is nothing resembling
a functioning democracy. “Museveni
controls everything,” says Serunkuma.
“He appoints the judges. Most of the
senior generals come from his area. In
2017, he had the military move into the
Parliament and beat up MPs.”
Serunkuma describes Museveni’s
regime as a constitutional autocracy.
“The autocrats of today operate like
ghosts,” he says. “They give you a fa-
cade that looks functional. Museveni
doesn’t rig an election with obnoxious
margins. He’s really smart.”
Museveni has also worked to make
himself seem indispensable to the
West. He has been a reliable partner
in the fight against terrorism through-
out and beyond East Africa. Ugandan
troops were part of George W. Bush’s
“coalition of the willing,” and have
been deployed as part of anti-terror-
ism and peacekeeping operations in
Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The
U.S. rewards Museveni with nearly $1
billion in development and security as-
sistance every year.
Museveni has further endeared him-
self to the West by opening Uganda’s
borders to the African refugees most
of Europe is shutting out. As of late
2018, Uganda had roughly 1.5 million
refugees living in the country, and had
taken in more than $200 million in hu-
manitarian assistance to help settle
them in 2018 alone. All this makes it
that much easier to overlook Museve-
ni’s abysmal human-rights record.
Wine makes the point that fight-
ing terrorism is in his nation’s best in-
terest, but “our partners in the fight
shouldn’t be Museveni’s partners,they should be Uganda’s partners.
They shouldn’t work with any individ-
ual, they should work with the institu-
tions.” Wine’s politics are unapologet-
ically populist — he’s walked back his
previous support for Uganda’s repug-
nant Anti-Homosexuality Act, which
was signed into law in 2014, then sub-
sequently ruled unconstitutional amid
international outcry — but he’s no dem-
agogue. He promises to restore presi-
dential age and term limits. He’d even
like to offer Museveni amnesty after
the election, though he admits that
may depend on what happens be-
tween now and then. “We want to end
this vicious circle of leaders that leave
power and have to live in exile.”
There are no reliable polls measur-
ing support for Wine, Museveni, or any
other presidential candidates. Some
point to the size of the crowds Wine
attracts as evidence of broad backing.
Others question whether he has the lo-
gistical know-how to get out his sup-
porters, many of whom are young and
may not have voted in the past. Wine
told me he believes he’d beat Museveni
with 80 to 90 percent of the vote in a
fair election, though that seems hyper-
bolic. The conventional wisdom is thatON THE TRAIL Wine
in Hoima, in western
Uganda, last year.
“[The government]
is so scared of my
interaction with the
people,” he says.