The National Unity Platform Party President Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, has received criticism and backlash from the Ugandan Diaspora community in London during his tour, expressing concern over his ongoing disrespect toward the Kabaka (King) of Buganda.
The Kabaka diehards in the Diaspora noted that Bobi Wine’s portrait is displayed at traditional events instead of the Kabaka’s.
Similarly, during Kabaka’s illness, while he was receiving treatment in Namibia, Bobi Wine and his supporters kept on harassing Kabaka and demanding his return dead or alive, to the extent of accusing the Namibian government of kidnapping the Kabaka; this led to the Namibian government’s refusal to renew the Kabaka’s visa.
This contempt of Kabaka and the Kingdom prompted his subjects to organize a boycott against Bobi’s highly anticipated event, the ‘London Tour of Duty,’ resulting in many empty seats and necessitating a switch to a Zoom meeting instead.
Bobi Wine and his selected team of NUP supporters in the Diaspora organized a tour dubbed ‘London tour of duty’ at Hyde Park Crescent, London W2 2QD, on Friday, September 20, 2024, with the hope of attracting audience from NUP supporters and well-wishers in the UK, but unfortunately, it flopped with just a few countable numbers present.
According to Andrew Matovu, a staunch NUP supporter, together with his colleagues, booked a big hall at a hotel and arranged a lot of meals in anticipation for several people; however, to their dismay, almost all the seats remained empty.
“It is so disappointing that we arranged and planned for this tour ahead of time and put in a lot of money for the venue and food, but as you can see very few people turned up, we have ended up serving ourselves the food, which we won’t even finish,” Matovu said.
Ivan Ssekalembe, a Buganda subject and adamant supporter of the Kabaka, said that while NUP was planning the tour, they were also planning a boycott of the same event.
“We have witnessed how Bobi Wine and his supporters have been undermining the authority of the King and his significance as our cultural leader; no Muganda-loving person would let this disrespect slide; we sent out our strong voice that enough is enough by boycotting his tour,” Ssekalembe said.
He noted that as Kabaka’s subjects, Bobi Wine should, with immediate effect, stop undermining Kabaka’s authority and send out a public apology to Kabaka and the Kingdom as a whole, or he would not like the repercussions.
According to Matovu, the tour organizers had hoped that Bobi Wine’s injury, which he got during a scuffle with police early this month, would work in their favor draw sympathy from supporters, and attract big numbers.
“We had hoped people out of sympathy would come and attend the event so that we use it as a marketing strategy to promote Bobi Wine locally and internationally; unfortunately, it did not work, and some of our colleagues organized a boycott, which we learnt of at the last minute; it greatly affected turnout,” Matovu noted.
However, Timothy Kalyegira, a political expert, has noted that Bobi Wine’s political career is on a downward trend with the international community following the British Parliament’s statement of Joel Ssenyonyi being a more articulate and knowledgeable speaker about economic and foreign policies.
“If one has been keen, Bobi Wine’s popularity with his foreign friends changed drastically when he failed to clearly articulate what fiscal policy is and what he thought of the current foreign policies,” Kalyegira said.
Despite the lack of audience, Bobi Wine took to social media to express his gratitude to those who did attend, emphasizing the importance of community and solidarity.
“Every voice counts, and I appreciate those who stood by me,” Bobi Wine tweeted.
Analysts have advised Bobi Wine to reduce political tensions between his National Unity Platform (NUP) and the Buganda kingdom by apologizing to the kingdom, warning that his political career is nearing the end due to his endless disrespect of the Kakaba, as witnessed by the empty seats on this current London tour compared to previous tours.
