Politics

Bobi Wine charged with treason. Will this be Museveni’s joker against a rising opponent?

Published

6 years ago

August 15, 2018

Uganda’s vocal legislator, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, who is popularly known as Bobi Wine has been charged with treason, in the aftermath of the deadly clashes that rocked the West Nile town of Arua on the last day of campaigns to elect a member of parliament for the municipality.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Moses Ali told parliament on Wednesday that Bobi Wine, who was campaigning for independent candidate in the race, Kassiano Wadri will face the Army Court Martial on Thursday.

Bobi Wine was arrested along with other legislators and opposition supporters, including Wadri after police accused them of attacking president Yoweri Museveni’s convoy on Monday.

The incumbent President betrayed his emotions Wednesday, slightly coming short of publicly pronouncing Wine guilty of sponsoring the attack against him.

“It is a big shame to have such confused people who want to use violence to intimidate Ugandans. Nobody has a right to intimidate any Ugandan by word or action,” said Museveni.

“Fortunately, my convoy did not react with fire in response to this attack. This was because we were not equipped for anti-riots. Our intervention could have resulted into people’s death because we only had live bullets.

“We went to the bush to fight for the right of making political decisions by Ugandans without intimidation by word or action. Anybody who threatens this will have himself to blame,” he added.

The state has levied the following charges against Bobi Wine:
• Police spokesperson of north-western region, Josephine Angucia told journalists that Bobi Wine and Wadri are to be charged with malicious damage to the motorvehicle belonging to the convoy of the President.
• Bobi Wine is also charged with unlawful possession of firearms.
• Angucia also confirmed that both Bobi Wine and Wadri have been charged with treason.

Police in Arua reportedly recovered two submachine guns and a pistol from Bobi Wine and Wadri.

‘’Kassiano Wadri was arrested with one pistol, which had 12 rounds of ammunition(…) It was found with him during the time of his arrest. He even confessed that he is licensed to have it,’‘ Angucia said.

“For that matter, all have been charged with treason, unlawful possession of firearms, that is for the case of Kyagulanyi Robert and malicious damage to the motorvehicle belonging to the convoy of the President.”

Residents of Arua cast their votes on Wednesday, and vote counting is underway to determine who will replace the deceased Ibrahim Abiriga, who was gunned down in mysterious circumstances in June this year.

Wine is no stranger to controversy.

In 2009, he was accused of punching rival artiste Bebe Cool (Wine reportedly holds a professional boxing licence).

Then the Kampala Capital City Authority, the agency that runs the Ugandan capital, came for him one time, accusing him of constructing a building without following zoning procedures.

Somehow, he broke free of both accusations and his music flourished.

Then the politics started.

When Uganda went to elections in 2016, Wine stayed from the pool of artistes like Chameleone who had collaborated to sing a campaign song for veteran President Yoweri Museveni.

To him, there was nothing knew the old man was offering, having recycled policies, and failed to implement them, for three decades.

It was the first signal of what was to come.

In June 29, 2017, the musician joined politics proper after defeating National Resistance Movement (NRM) and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) candidates to win the Kyadondo East parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.

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Politics

Officials report fight between Somalia’s Jubbaland region, central govt

Published

11 hours ago

December 11, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Jubbaland staged an election against the advice of the Mogadishu administration, officials claimed on Wednesday that fighting had broken out between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region of Somalia.

“This morning, federal forces from Mogadishu in Ras Kamboni, using drones, attacked Jubbaland forces,” Adan Ahmed Haji, assistant security minister of Jubbaland, told a press conference in Jubbaland’s capital Kismayu.

Response requests were not immediately answered by Interior Minister Yusuf Ali or Information Minister Daud Aweis of the national administration.

Jubbaland, one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous republics that borders Ethiopia and Kenya, elected regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe to a third term in late November.

Jubbaland has the potential to be one of Somalia’s richest districts due to its location and natural resources, but for more than 20 years, violence has kept it permanently unsettled.

There are no explicit guidelines in the Somali constitution regarding the establishment of recently formed federal entities or their interactions with the national government.

Politics

Ghana’s ex-president Mahama returns to power after close contest with former VP

Published

3 days ago

December 8, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following his challenger Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s concession on Sunday, former Ghanaian President, John Dramani Mahama, has made a political comeback by winning the country’s presidential election.

In a region where voters are seeking leadership change due to economic hardship, rising inflation, and depreciating local currency, the outcome of Ghana’s general election is yet another setback for the ruling party.

The 66-year-old Mahama, who presided over Ghana as president from 2012 to 2016, presented Bawumia as carrying on the policies that caused the country to experience its worst economic crisis in a generation.

After defaulting on most of its foreign debt, the world’s second-largest cocoa grower and significant gold producer agreed with the IMF last year for a $3 billion rescue.

“I have, this morning, received a congratulatory call from my brother Dr. Bawumia, following my emphatic victory in Saturday’s election. Thank you, Ghana,” Mahama said in a post on X social media.

Bawumia told a news conference from his home that he had contacted Mahama to congratulate him and that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mahama’s party, had also won the legislative election.

“The data from our internal collation of the election results indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama has won the presidential election decisively,” Bawumia said, adding that NDC also won the parliamentary election.

Bawumia said that to reduce tensions, he gave in before to the official outcome.

Scuffles had been reported in several local constituency centres before to his concession when polling station results were still being received.

“I am making this concession speech before the official announcement by the Electoral Commission to avoid further tension and preserve the peace of our country,” Bawumia said.

“It is important that the world investor community continues to believe in the peaceful and democratic character of Ghana,” he added.

Following Bawumia’s loss concession, hundreds of NDC supporters celebrated Sunday in the streets of Accra, the country’s capital.

According to preliminary findings, Mahama and the NDC party had a strong lead. Joy News stated that after preliminary results from 68 of 276 seats were tabulated, Mahama had more than 53% of the vote compared to Bawumia’s 45.16%.

Sammy Gyamfi, the national spokesman for the NDC, stated at a press conference on Sunday before Bawumia’s concession that Mahama was leading with around 56% based on preliminary internally collated figures from 38,896 of the 40,976 voting stations. According to him, the party seemed to be headed for about 185 of the 276 seats in Parliament.