{UAH} Uganda’s Political Standoff Between Old and Young Echoes Across Africa

AFRICA

Uganda's Political Standoff Between Old and Young Echoes Across Africa

Pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine poses challenge to longtime President Yoweri Museveni in a generational battle

Supporters of Bobi Wine gathered outside the pop star's recording studio, which has become a meeting point for jobless young men. ISAAC KASAMANI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

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By 

Nicholas Bariyo

Updated Sept. 4, 2018 7:03 am ET

KAMPALA, Uganda—In his songs, Bobi Wine, a Ugandan pop star turned parliamentarian, frequently taunts longtime President Yoweri Museveni, calling the 73-year-old an aging despot who has forgotten his country's youth.

Now, Mr. Museveni is slapping back. In August, Ugandan security forces arrested the 36-year-old, whose legal name is Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi. He was charged with treason for allegedly encouraging supporters to stone the motorcade of Mr. Museveni, who has ruled the east African nation since 1986.

In a Facebook post Monday, the singer, who denies the charges and is now in the U.S. for medical treatment after being released on bail, gave details of torture he said he was subjected to by Ugandan soldiers during his arrest, including beatings with a metal rod. A government spokesman said torture claims are being investigated.

Ugandan singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine after he was released on bail at a high court in Gulu, northern Uganda. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

The standoff between the pop star and the president is the latest episode in a generational battle playing out in several African nations. The world's youngest continent, whose citizens have a median age of just 19½ years, has the world's oldest leaders, according to the United Nation's development agency. Lacking jobs and opportunities, many young people are feeling little allegiance to governments led by former liberation movements.

In Zimbabwe, first-time voters in July rallied around 40-year-old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa , who accused 75-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa of being a carbon-copy of his 94-year-old predecessor, Robert Mugabe. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, university students and other youth activists have dominated street protests against President Joseph Kabila , who is only 47 but has been in power for 17 years. Even in Rwanda, calls for President Paul Kagame, 60, to step down are growing louder, inspired in part by 37-year-old jailed presidential hopeful Diane Rwigara .

Generation Gap

A number of Africa's longtime rulers lead countries where the median age is a quarter of their own.

Population's median age, 2015

Leader's age

80

40

20

60

0

Cameroon

Age gap

Uganda

Zimbabwe

Republic of Congo

Equatorial Guinea

Rwanda

U.S.

Democratic

Republic of Congo

Sources: U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (median ages); U.N. reports, government statistics, Encyclopedia Britannica (leader ages)

"Assertive and rebellious youths have put Museveni and his club of the region's other old presidents on notice," said Nicholas Ssengoba, a Kampala-based independent analyst. "It's a shock challenge, which old leaders have to contend with in the foreseeable future."

With a median age of 16 years, Uganda has Africa's second-youngest population after Niger, but it is ruled by one of the continent's oldest and longest-serving presidents. Mr. Museveni, who calls himself a "wise old man with a hat" and regularly refers to young Ugandans as his grandchildren, has maintained a bigger public profile than some of his fellow longtime rulers. Those include Cameroon's Paul Biya, 85 and president since 1982, Equatorial Guinea's 76-year-old Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been in power for 39 years, and Denis Sassou Nguesso, a 74-year-old who has been ruling the Republic of Congo for 32 years.

Last year, Mr. Museveni removed term limits from the constitutionand in July imposed a tax on social-media use, which he blames for spreading "fake news." He has closed down critical media and pro-democracy groups and arrested dozens of journalists.

Government data, meanwhile, show that 3.4 million Ugandans slipped into poverty during the past five years, youth unemployment stands above 60% and public hospitals routinely lack basic medicine.

Ugandan riot police were sent to quell protests by supporters of Bobi Wine after he was rearrested. PHOTO: RONALD KABUUBI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this context Mr. Wine's music, which he calls "edutainment," resonates. "We know you fought a bush war," he sings about Mr. Museveni in his 2017 single "Freedom." "But imagine a child who wasn't born when you came [into power] has now become a parent."

Critics point to Mr. Wine's lack of experience—he was elected as an independent member of parliament only last year—as an impediment in a country whose politics have been dominated by former guerrilla fighters who toppled strongman Idi Amin and eventually brought Mr. Museveni into power. The country's opposition is fractured, with the most dominant figure being Kizza Besigye , a former personal physician for Mr. Museveni during the liberation war. The 62-year-old has contested and lost to Mr. Museveni in the past four elections.

In Rwanda, 37-year-old jailed presidential hopeful Diane Rwigara has been an irritant for 60-year-old President Paul Kagame. PHOTO: CYRIL NDEGEYA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

"Bobi Wine has not been tested as a leader, he does not even have a political party," said David Karungi, an academic at Uganda's Kyambogo University, who supports Mr. Museveni's ruling party, the National Resistance Movement.

The president has called Mr. Wine and other critical lawmakers "unprincipled politicians who mislead our youth into rioting," and intensified a crackdown on the singer and his supporters. In December, Mr. Wine was one of several lawmakers beaten by soldiers on the floor of parliament when they tried to filibuster a bill to extend Mr. Museveni's rule. Days later a grenade was hurled at his home.

In Zimbabwe, supporters of Nelson Chamisa and his opposition party Movement for Democratic Change marched in Harare. PHOTO: SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS

But Mr. Wine's fans, who fondly refer to him as the "ghetto president," haven't been deterred. In the wake of his arrest, Mr. Wine's recording studio in the slum of Kamwokya, outside the capital Kampala, has become a meeting point for jobless young men, who occasionally flash victory signs at passersby. Police have repeatedly fired tear gas to disperse them, but many keep returning.

"Bobi Wine understands our problems better than anyone else" said Daniela Lufafa, a 29-year-old unemployed butcher, who was outside the studio Thursday evening. "Those in power are scared of him because he speaks for the ordinary people like us. We love him."

Write to Nicholas Bariyo at nicholas.bariyo@wsj.com

WSJ.COM

Uganda's Political Standoff Between Old and Young Echoes Across Africa

Lacking jobs and opportunities, many young people in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa are feeling little allegiance to governments led by men who helped shed colonialism several decades ago.

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