Bobi wine to mobilise Ugandans to take part in referendum

PIC: Kyadondo East Mp Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Alias Bobi wine with his fellow fire base musician Nubian Lee at the National Theatre during a press conference after his return from the US on Thursday. (Credit: Ashraf Kasirye)

REFERENDUM

KAMPALA - Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has revealed his plans to mobilise Ugandans to participate in a referendum aimed at extending the presidential term from five to seven years.

Unlike other politicians who are opposed to this referendum with a view that it will be rigged by the ruling party NRM, Kyagulanyi is positive that Ugandans need to be sensitised not only to take part in an election.

The musician turned legislator was addressing journalists in a conference at the National Theatre a day after he returned from his one-month tour in the US.

He said Ugandans only have their votes as a weapon to the Promised Land and he is ready to mobilise them to utilise it so that they can incinerate NRM's continued rule.

"If they could not rig my vote in Kyadondo, how can we fail to stop them from rigging the referendum?" he asked.

He added: "As opposition, we had called for a referendum even before NRM MPs betrayed us by lifting article 102(b), but the Government turned down our call. This is the only opportunity we have to show them that we can use an election to triumph over them," Kyagulanyi said.

Among the things Kyagulanyi hopes to tackle is voter apathy, which he believes the NRM has been taking advantage of.

He called on fellow leaders who believe in democracy to begin teaching their voters what they believe in and turn them into real democrats.

According to Kyagulanyi, people who believe that there is no free and fair election in Uganda should instead work hard to make any election free and fair because they are the voters and the majority.

While in the US, Kyagulanyi took part in a leadership course at Harvard School of Law.

He insists that he is not a politician and the course he studied at in Harvard was not a political one, but a leadership course dubbed, leadership of the 21st century.

Kyagulanyi explained that the course was focused on opening their minds to the options that had not been utilised before in the fight against any dictatorship around the world.

About the Jinja east bye-election Kyagulanyi said he was planning to traverse the constituency combing for votes on behalf of the FDC flag-bearer Paul Mwiru because they share leadership ideas.

He also criticised the trending spate of Police reactions whenever someone is murdered, which he described as responsive but unreliable. 


"For example, when Police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi was shot dead, the issue of street cameras came up, but this has not materialised," Kyagulanyi said, adding that the trend of mysterious deaths is likely to continue.