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CAIRO – Two opposition candidates in Uganda who are preparing to challenge the country’s president in next February’s elections were arrested on Tuesday, the latest sign of a tough fight to come as they seek to end the autocrat’s three-and-a-half. . decade in power.
One candidate, Bobi Wine, 38, a musician-turned-legislator who is President Yoweri Museveni’s most prominent rival, was arrested just after presenting his nomination papers in the capital, Kampala. The other, Patrick Amuriat, was pulled from his car and detained at the headquarters of his party, the Forum for Democratic Change, the party said on Twitter.
Police also prevented both candidates from going to their party offices to address their supporters and set up their campaign platforms in an effort to end the rule of Museveni, the 76-year-old autocrat.
After changing the age limit provisions in the Constitution, Museveni is running for the sixth time and will face nine other candidates in the February elections. The country’s electoral commission had designated Monday and Tuesday as the dates for the nominations of the candidates.
Both arrested candidates will still be on the February ballot.
The arrest of Wine, a popular musician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi and who was elected to Parliament in 2017, was not the first time he had faced the ire of authorities. The police arrested him several times, brutally beat him while in custody and even killed his driver. His party’s offices have been raided, including last month, when authorities confiscated electoral materials.
Wine has drawn huge support in recent years, particularly among young people who are disillusioned with the corruption, unemployment, poverty, and repression of free speech that have come to define the East African nation under government. by Museveni.
On Monday, Wine said police had sent him a statement saying they were going to accompany him to the nomination site. But after he submitted his nomination papers on Tuesday, he was arrested after dozens of security officers surrounded the vehicle carrying him and his assistants.
In a series of live videos on his Facebook page, a security officer can be seen using a wrench to break the window next to the front passenger seat. After a fight with those inside the car, the officers opened the door and took away Mr. Wine, who was sitting in the back.
“Jesus, this is what the police are doing,” he was heard saying before being pulled from the car. “We will not be violent.”
As security vehicles took him away, live videos on Facebook showed his followers involved in a car chase with them.
After being prevented from going to his offices, Mr. Wine was taken to his residence, where he addressed his supporters. Challenging and raising her voice, she turned around to show that her suit jacket was torn and pointed to the injuries that she said some of her associates had sustained in the incident.
Mr. Amuriat’s arrest took place at his party’s headquarters in Kampala, and the agents took him to the grounds of Kyambogo University, where he was to present his nomination papers, although he did not have his shoes or documents when he arrived at the center. . , As the pointed to local media.
After the arrests, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Mr. Museveni, who is also a senior adviser to the president, tweeted a photo of himself with Mr. Wine, writing: “You can NEVER bully us. We are much stronger than you can imagine. If you want to fight, we will simply defeat you. “
Lord came tweeted in response to Mr. Kainerugaba’s post, “You should be ashamed,” adding: “This country belongs to the Ugandans, not you and your father. You will soon understand. “
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