Uganda votes as its pop star politician Bobi Wine goes up against President Museveni

Uganda votes as its pop star politician Bobi Wine goes up against President Museveni The military is fully deployed to the streets of Kampala and there is a total internet blackout as voters decide who they want in power. Image:Wine is driven through a sea of supporters Image:Wine as he casts a vote for himself Image:A rally for President Museveni Image:A man holds a foam finger and turns it into a thumbs down Friday 16 January 2026 00:17, UK Bobi Wine's house is heavily surveilled. Motorbikes whiz back and forth in the street in front of his gate with a trained curiosity before a large riot truck full of masked police officers fills the narrow road. The relentless monitoring gives way to calm as we enter his high-walled home. I walked down the same garden path with him in 2018 when Wine was starting to shift the fanbase he built as a musician into explosive political popularity as a member of parliament, voicing opposition to President Museveni and the ruling party. Even then, the government was quick to crack down on his young, growing support base in the protests he led against a social media tax imposed by the government. What has changed since then? "What has changed is that it has gone from bad to worse. There is more impunity. There is more violence every day as people are being abducted and they go missing. Some have been missing for years," he responds. The crackdown intensified in the lead up to Uganda's 2021 election when at least 54 people were killed and hundreds were disappeared by the security forces. Now, Wine's National Unity Party says that 300 of their supporters and party officials have been detained in the weeks building up to this election as he runs against Uganda 's long-time ruler President Yoweri Museveni for the second time. As we speak in Wine's garden, the military is fully deployed to the streets of Kampala, there is a total internet blackout and the permits of at least nine local human rights organisations have been suspended - all while Ugandans vote for who they want to see govern the country for the next five years. "Even my deputy president in charge of western Uganda has been picked up, and I'm told she's being detained in a military barracks - so it is crazy what is happening," Wine says. "This is supposed to be an election, but besides switching off the internet, our agents are being picked by security to ensure that the election happens in the dark." President Museveni denies long-time allegations of election rigging and told me that it is the opposition that rigs the election. "They try but they can't overturn us. We are too popular," he says. Read more: Uganda's president on shutting down the internet Pop star politician aiming to end president's 40 years in power At President Museveni's last rally in Kampala, thousands of people wearing his face on bright yellow T-shirts filled the Kololo...

Preview: ~500 words