Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, on January 1 laid out an ambitious transition blueprint for a post-Museveni era and strongly rebutted claims by President Museveni that his campaign crowds are staged, as tensions rise less than two weeks before the January 15 general election.
On Thursday, Bobi Wine, 43, delivered a defiant New Year address in Kampala hours after Museveni’s televised end-of-year speech on December 31, in which the 81-year-old incumbent devoted a significant portion of his remarks to attacking his apparent main challenger.
Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, accused Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) of being backed by ‘evil parasitic foreigners’ and of ferrying supporters in ‘possibly 200 vehicles’ to create what he described as nomadic and disruptive rally crowds.
‘In the new Uganda, change will not just be about faces, but national systems and priorities as well,’ Bobi Wine said, framing the next election as a decisive moment for the country’s political future and insisting that change would be institutional, constitutional and peaceful.
‘You should expect an end to human rights violations and a return to constitutionalism in its purest form,’ Bobi Wine emphasized.
He pledged professional and independent security forces, zero tolerance to corruption, free quality public education, jobs and fair pay, and social protection for citizens unable to work.
‘We invite Ugandans to hold us accountable to those standards,’ he said.
Central to the address was what Bobi Wine described as a structured transition mechanism ‘already underway, led by a technical team tasked with drafting a blueprint for a new government.’
‘This team is reviewing laws, institutions, civil service delivery and consulting ordinary citizens to ensure that from day one, a new Uganda is governed in an orderly and constitutional manner,’ he said.
According to Bobi Wine, political and technical teams would merge immediately after the election to refine the transition roadmap and prepare systems and personnel to ‘receive instruments of authority in May 2026.’
‘During the transition period, we shall ensure the safety of every citizen regardless of who they supported in the past,’ Bobi Wine said, promising a broad-based, merit-driven government.
Bobi Wine also urged unity across political, religious and business divides, saying ‘Uganda needed a peaceful transfer of power and a new social contract grounded in justice and fairness.’
‘Museveni fed fake intelligence’
The opposition leader used his address to rebut claims made by Museveni a day earlier that the National Unity Platform ferries supporters in hundreds of vehicles to create artificial crowds.
‘I don’t look at Gen Museveni with anger. I look at him with pity,’ Bobi Wine said, adding: ‘By his age, he is being fed fake intelligence.’
‘Even where we’ve been allowed by security to pass, not more than five cars are allowed from my convoy. So, how would we ferry crowds?’ he asked a gathering of mostly journalists at the party headquarters in Kavule-Makerere.
Bobi Wine instead accused security forces of deliberately blocking supporters from attending his rallies to create the impression that he lacks popular backing.
‘They break up our gatherings with live bullets, teargas, water cannons and dogs so that no crowds follow us,’ Bobi Wine said.
By press time, the country’s security apparatus had yet to respond to Bobi Wine’s ‘fake intelligence’ remarks, which came after 5pm -outside regular working hours.
‘120 bullets, awakened generation’
The comments came against a backdrop of repeated security crackdowns on opposition events, with several NUP supporters shot dead during campaign rallies, according to opposition figures.
Museveni accused the opposition in his New Year address of indiscipline, anarchic conduct and foreign backing, claiming that those arrested during a November rally in Mbarara had confessed to mobilising crowds using ‘possibly 200 vehicles’.
In mid-December, he also warned opposition supporters against unlawful activity, noting that Uganda’s more than 35,000 soldiers each carry at least 120 bullets.
‘History doesn’t forgive silence. Let this New Year become a turning point in our country. We declare that Uganda will be free-not by bullets but by the unbreakable will of the citizens of Uganda,’ Bobi Wine remarked.
‘Today, the promise of our 1962 independence has been hijacked by a small group which rules us through fear, corruption and abuse of state power, and citizens treated like slaves on their own land. This is not stability but occupation by greed,’ he added.
However, Bobi Wine urged supporters to remain peaceful but alert.
‘An awakened generation can never be defeated. Remain peaceful and non-violent even when provoked. But don’t take comfort in ignorance.’
The January election is a rematch of the disputed 2021 polls, which Bobi Wine unsuccessfully challenged in court, alleging widespread irregularities and voter suppression in opposition strongholds.
Museveni has also said the 2021 outcome would have been far stronger for him had those areas not been rigged.
Calling the vote ‘a protest vote in its purest form’, Bobi Wine urged Ugandans to defend their ballots lawfully and document results.
‘If it happened to Marcos of the Philippines in 1986 and Yahya Jammeh of Gambia in 2016, it can happen in Uganda in 2026,’ he emphasized.
Bobi Wine is among seven opposition candidates seeking to end Museveni’s bid to extend his rule to near-half century through the 2026 ballot.