Bobi Wine, the pop star-turned-opposition icon, confirmed today that he'll challenge Yoweri Museveni for Uganda's presidency in 2021.
Why it matters: Wine, 37, who was viciously beaten by soldiers last year and says Museveni's regime "wants me dead as soon as possible," told the AP: “there has never been a threat to this regime like the threat we pose to it today as a generation.”
The FT's David Pilling spent a recent afternoon in the slum where Wine was raised. Some excerpts from his great piece:
- "Wine’s elevation to a symbol of Africa’s rising generation is no small responsibility in a continent where the median age is 19, and where urban youth engender both a sense of optimism for an Africa on the move and impending catastrophe as they seek jobs and political agency in a region dominated by out-of-touch autocrats."
- "Not a single person who passes fails to recognise him. Many approach shouting slogans, clenching their fist, shaking hands, requesting help or posing for selfies. At one point, a crowd hoists him in the air, bouncing him through the streets like an Indian godhead."
What to watch: "Assuming Wine is alive by 2021, I wonder how he can possibly prevail in an electoral system where intimidation and rigging have been rife. His answer is to get millions of young people to register so that, he hopes, victory will be so decisive Museveni’s resolve will crumble."
