The musician and opposition leader was defeated in the presidential election in Uganda. Now Bobi Wine is on the run. What happened?
Bobi Wine is on the run. The music star and opposition politician was defeated last week in the presidential election in Uganda, in which the head of state, who has been in power for 40 years Yoweri Museveni emerged victorious. Wine’s supporters speak of election fraud. In the wake of the election, the regime massively deployed the military, blocked the internet and limited press freedom. Even before counting was over, in which Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, won 25 percent of the vote, government troops tried to arrest him.
But Bobi Wine evaded arrest. The 43-year-old managed to escape spectacularly from his home in Uganda’s capital Kampala. He is currently in a secret location. He is hunted by the president’s son, Uganda’s army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba, known as Muhoozi, who is trying to kill him. Muhoozi himself hopes to succeed his father as president.
The dispute between Bobi Wine on one side and 81-year-old Museveni and Muhoozi on the other is a battle of young versus old, poor versus rich, change versus establishment. Wine, who is also known as the “Ghetto President” because of his social background, scores particularly well with young people affected by poverty who have had enough of the eternal ruler. 80 percent of the population in the East African country is under 40 and knows no other president than Museveni.
Why is Uganda’s political leadership so afraid of the “Ghetto President”? What does the young generation see in Bobi Wine? And what’s next for him?
taz correspondent Simone Schlindwein has been reporting from Uganda for a long time, was also there during the recent elections and took a close look at the repression against the opposition and the population. She talks about this in the new episode of the long-distance connection with the taz foreign editor Fabian Schroer.
This episode was recorded on January 22, 2026 at 10 a.m. Central European Time.
Long distance connection – The taz foreign podcast appears every week on taz.de and everywhere there are podcasts.
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