In Uganda, a pop star takes on a president, at his peril
In his red beret and jumpsuit the Ugandan pop star Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, better known as Bobi Wine, leads cheering campaigners down a street, punching the air and waving the national flag.
That image has defined the unlikely new political phenomenon - and possibly now put him in danger as an opposition figure taking on one of Africa's longest-serving leaders. Once considered a marijuana-loving crooner, the 36-year-old "ghetto child" is a new member of parliament who urges his countrymen to stand up against what he calls a failing government.
His "Freedom" video opens with him singing behind bars: "We are fed up with those who oppress our lives." He has protested against an unpopular social media tax and a controversial change to the constitution removing presidential age limits.
Despite murmurs about his wild past and inexperience in politics, his approach appears to be working: All of the candidates he has backed in strongly contested legislative by-elections this year have emerged victorious. But after clashes this week led to a smashed window in President Yoweri Museveni's convoy and Ssentamu's own driver shot dead, some of the singer's supporters now wonder if they'll ever see him again.
The brash young lawmaker was charged Thursday in a military court with illegal possession of firearms for his alleged role in Monday's clashes in the northwestern town of Arua, where both he and Museveni were campaigning.
As the president's convoy left a rally, authorities say, a group associated with Ssentamu and the candidate he supported, Kassiano Wadri, pelted it with stones. Ssentamu quickly posted on Twitter a photo of his dead driver slumped in a car seat, blaming police "thinking they've shot at me."
Then he was arrested, and he hasn't been seen in public since. His lawyer, Medard Sseggona, told reporters after Thursday's closed-door hearing that his client had been so "brutalized he cannot walk, he cannot stand, he can only sit with difficulty ... It is hard to say whether he understands this and that."
Army spokesman Brig. Richard Karemire on Friday didn't address the allegation but said the military will ensure the lawmaker receives medical attention "now that he is under its safe custody." Critics have said Uganda's government might find it easier to get the verdict it wants in a military court, where independent observers often have limited access.
