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Ugandan Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, has castigated President Yoweri Museveni’s government over growing cases of grotesque violations of citizens’ rights.
Speaking on Saturday at the burial of Henry Masolo, the father of Opposition Chief Whip in Parliament, Mr. John Baptist Nambeshe, National Unity Platform leader, Bobi Wine, said the violations are a “shame” on the rulings of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Masolo succumbed to cancer on March 30 cancer and he was buried at his ancestral home in Burenga village, Busayi parish in Bududa District.
Present at the burial was the new Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Thomas Tayebwa, who left shortly after Bobi Wine’s scathing attack.
He did not tell journalists about his premature departure, but his office later said he had an official engagement in Entebbe.
In his address, Bobi Wine cited a recently widely-circulated video clip in which a man, with legs and hands bound with barbed wire, could be seen being burnt with molten plastic.
The tormenters wore yellow t-shirts that looked similar to the uniform of the ruling party.
“This is shameful to the NRM party,” Bobi Wine said.
NRM has since distanced itself from the incident.
Satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukiribashaija, who has since fled to Germany, has become the latest notable victim of torture in Uganda following his incarceration for alleged unflattering Twitter posts about President Museveni and his son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
It is these rights breaches allegedly perpetrated by state security and government actors, that Bobi Wine targeted, and the deputy speaker left shortly afterward.
After Mr. Tayebwa’s sudden departure, some lawmakers from eastern Uganda who subscribe to the region started leaving the burial ceremony, with some overheard accusing Bobi of “politicking…causing confusion [and] promoting hatred against the NRM government”.
Earlier, Mr. Tayebwa told opposition leaders to work for the people instead of criticizing every government program, including the nascent Parish Development Model, which he described as pro-people.
“You should work for your people because they don’t feed on politics… these programs are for the people; so, educate them so that they can benefit,” he said.
He also praised Mr. Nambeshe, an Opposition chief whip, for being a “unifying leader” and asked others to emulate him.
In his speech, Bobi Wine also criticized the government for under-equipping health facilities and questioned the quality of healthcare to ordinary citizens.
“It’s so unfortunate that Nambeshe had to fly his father to Nairobi for treatment, yet we have a Bududa hospital here. Nambeshe couldn’t have taken his father to Kenya if our healthcare system was in good condition,” he said.
In a separate interview, State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Ms. Agnes Nandutu, said the government is building new health facilities in Bududa to improve service access.
“These facilities are going to be equipped with medicine, machines, and the necessary human manpower,” she said.
