Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine at the gate of his home, which soldiers have surrounded after he alleged mass electoral fraud

Africa

Uganda’s Bobi Wine still under ‘house arrest’ after poll: party

Kampala, Uganda, Jan 17 – Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine remains under “house arrest”, his party said on Sunday, after a disputed election returned President Yoweri Museveni to office for a sixth term.

The former ragga singer turned lawmaker came second in the presidential election, and has said the process was marred by widespread fraud and violence.

He has not left his home since he went out to vote in the election on Thursday, and on Friday said he was under “siege” as soldiers and police surrounded his home, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

“Our leader … is effectively under house arrest,” National Unity Platform spokesman Joel Ssenyonyi told a press conference, adding no one was being allowed access.

“His home is not a detention facility. We are very concerned about the state in which he is in, and his wife.”

A Twitter update under Wine’s account, written by an administrator as Uganda remains under an internet blackout for a fifth day, said the couple had “run out of food supplies.”

The party said prominent MP, Francis Zaake, who had been arrested during an attempted visit to Wine’s house on Friday, had been admitted to hospital “badly beaten and brutalised” by security forces.

Ugandan officials have said the soldiers and police were there for Wine’s own security.

– ‘Minority clique’ –

Wine and his NUP have yet to outline their next steps after dismissing the election as a “complete sham”.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“Once again, a minority clique is forcing themselves on the majority of Uganda. That is something that we are going to resist. It is something that we are going to say no to using every avenue provided for within the law,” said Ssenyonyi.

Museveni, 76, has ruled Uganda without pause since seizing control in 1986, when he helped to end years of tyranny under Idi Amin and Milton Obote.

Once hailed for his commitment to good governance, the former rebel leader has crushed any opposition and tweaked the constitution to allow himself to run again and again.

His re-election with 58.6 percent of the vote, to Wine’s 34.8 percent, came after the most violent election campaign in recent years, with the harassment of the opposition, media and deaths of scores of Wine’s supporters.

Wine said there had been ballot-box stuffing, intimidation, and that his party’s agents had been beaten and chased away during the election on Thursday.

However Museveni has said it was the cleanest election in the country’s history.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus praised Ugandans on Saturday for voting “despite an environment of intimidation and fear”.

She added that the US was “deeply troubled by the many credible reports of security force violence during the pre-election period and election irregularities during the polls”.

About The Author

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News

County News

The high rate of accidents in Kenya lately have raised serious concerns.

Top stories

The students were returning to Nairobi from a trip in Mombasa.

EDUCATION

Kipsang urged Parliament to increase the blocked figure from Sh65 billion, to match the Sh22,224 capitation requirement per student for 4.2 million students in...

NATIONAL NEWS

The President also said the Executive will work with Parliament to ensure that this year's budget allocation is both prudent and accountable.

County News

Maribe, who secured an acquittal in February after a 6-year murder trial that saw her ex-boyfriend 'Jowie' Irungu convicted and sentenced to death, promised...

NATIONAL NEWS

The weather agency listed Turkana, Samburu, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Isiolo, Garissa, Tana River, Lamu, Kilifi, Nairobi, Bungoma, Kakamega, Busia, Vihiga and Narok among counties...

County News

The agency said it was pursuing a third suspect who escaped the operation supported by police in Isebania.

NATIONAL NEWS

Justice Kanyi Kimondo issued the directive on Monday when he deferred a scheduled hearing after the State failed to present a pre-bail report.