RESPONSE TO MUSEVENI'S LIES

A response to President Museveni by MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Robert aka Bobi Wine, 6th September, 2020, 

General Museveni, 

You either do not live in Uganda, or you are a pathetic liar! 

The disease you are suffering from was precisely diagnosed by late Hon. Eriya Kategaya referring to you in his little book, “Impassioned for Freedom.” In that book, Kategaya writes as follows: “I have observed that the longer one stays in power, the more one is insulated from reality. The trappings of state apparatus tend to make one live an unrealistic existence.” 

Anyone who reads what you write these days can clearly see that you live in a bubble, completely isolated from where our country is, and what ordinary Ugandans go through on a daily basis. Well, this is expected. After 35 years in power, living lavishly at the expense of the tax-payer and amassing lots and lots of ill-gotten wealth, you are drawn far away from the reality of the common person in Uganda. That is why you have the audacity to mock and insult them in your words and actions, year in year out. 

On August 27th, you released a missive largely in response to Hon. Francis Zaake’s earlier letter. I had intended to respond to that statement which was both annoying and unfortunate. However, because of our busy schedule struggling to put an end to your corrupt regime, I did not find time or the need to respond then. Then on September 3rd you released another statement which was filled with more lies, self-praise, contradictions and provocations than the first one. These cannot go unchallenged! 

Your lies and contradictions have been so many. However, I will respond to only seven of them today. 

1. ON HOUSES OF WORSHIP AND PRAYERS

In your first statement, you begin by quoting some scriptures and speaking of how a few days ago you invited some religious leaders to state-house to pray against COVID19. 

First and foremost, the very fact that you can torture, mutilate and murder innocent citizens; your own countrymen, and then turn around to quote scriptures and purport to hold prayers reveals a hypocrisy of the highest level. Dictators have no shame! How do you reconcile these public stunts of prayer with the hundreds of victims murdered in Kasese on your orders; young political activists killed by your brutal regime; trillions of tax-payers’ money stolen under your watch, voter bribery, etc. etc.? 

The solution does not lie in holding many prayer sessions. What the Lord desires is justice, truth and righteousness. Forsake evil and do good! Then the Lord will hear from heaven, forgive our sin and heal our land. As Prophet Amos wrote in Amos 5:21-24, God says, “I hate and despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream.” Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. This is the rule!

Related to this is your obvious disregard for God as exhibited in the way you have used COVID19 to keep houses of prayer locked, while you and your people violate the same rules you have put in place, ostensibly to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Every Ugandan would know that the prayers you organize at State House and give your guests envelopes at the end of the service are simply a publicity stunt. Your friend, President Mugabe did this with distinction. While he was murdering citizens and his country’s economy was on its knees, he regularly invited religious leaders to his palace and at the end of the service he stuffed them with gifts. Likewise, Zaire’s Mobutu was very fond of religious festivities. But God is always on the side of the oppressed, and He eventually shows up and shows off on their behalf! 

Without digressing, my point is that if you had regard for God, places of worship would not be closed for prayers yet open for NRM political rallies and assemblies. Those are houses of God. Just a day ago, NRM held its primaries (which I will come back to later) and hundreds of people were gathered in large numbers under the watch of the police and the military. And somehow, you have conveniently refused to open places of worship under the pretext that they would spread COVID19! These double standards are for world cup, as we the young people say! 

Of course many of us know that aside from your disregard for God, the reason why you are refusing to open the places of worship is because it will put you on the spot if they are opened, and opposition political activities are still blocked. You are conveniently refusing to open these places of worship in order to keep opposition leaders under lockdown. True to your character, we may even now see a stringent enforcement of “COVID19 regulations”, now that NRM has finished its primaries! 

2. BOBI WINE WAS BEATEN PROPERLY IN ARUA 

In your letter of 27th August, you once again stated with satisfaction how I was properly brutalized in Arua, Hon. Zaake tortured to near death, Yasin Kawuma murdered and many other Ugandans assaulted, raped and mutilated by some of your guards. Now it’s clear, those actions were all on your orders!  

Yes, you may be a heartless, cold and brutal man at a personal level like all tyrants. But, at the very least, have some respect for the office which you currently occupy. Under our Constitution (which you have severally crushed and undermined), a President is the fountain of honor of our nation. What that means is that a President must conduct himself or herself in an honorable manner. I watched with shock as you commended your guards for torturing me properly. The expression on your face, and the satisfied laugh which followed clearly brought out what tragedy befell our country the day you captured power. The stories told many times, of your cold brutality all of a sudden became alive. The people of Uganda who watched you, found reason to believe that you find satisfaction in the suffering of people. The symbolism was clear – the way you relish the physical pain and suffering of your opponents is the same way you enjoy seeing Ugandans groan in pain, as poverty, hunger and disease take the better of them. 

Well, I will not dwell on this so much. Your guards were armed. They hit me with an iron bar and tortured me throughout the night until I became unconscious. Before then, they spoke to me with so much hate. They insulted and assaulted me for being me. They called me a dog, spat their mucus on my face, they tortured me some more, but by the grace of God, am still alive. When they came to you, all you could say to them was, “Well done, my good and faithful servants.” Your own admission that you stood in the way of justice and prevented them from being punished, clearly shows who sent them and what mission they had come to accomplish. Are you court to dismiss charges against accused persons? Those individuals, who you have shielded for two years now, should have had their day in court and their fate determined. Not by you dismissing torture accusations as rubbish! 

I still believe that your guards were sent to kill me that night. Yasin Kawuma took the bullets that were meant for me. You had your plan, but God had another plan! May the Lord who saved me from you that night continue protecting me and all Ugandans who are involved in this struggle for freedom and democracy! (Read 1 Samuel 24:15) 

Away from that, your government went ahead to charge me with unlawful possession of firearms. Machine guns and bullets were displayed to the media and reported as having been found in my hotel room. I WANT TO CHALLENGE YOU TODAY TO TELL US WHERE THOSE GUNS HAD COME FROM AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM EVENTUALLY! 

How can a head of state behave in this manner? Moreover, not a mere head of state, but an old man fit to be my father! The people of Uganda have tolerated you for over three decades. Do not insult their intelligence. 

People Power – Our Power 

Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Robert-Bobi Wine.

A Presidential Candidate in the 2021 Ugandan Election.

The full letter can be read at: https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Bobi-Wine-dares-Museveni-free-and-fair-elections/688334-5620092-kdm0goz/index.html