By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
In Uganda, music has long been a powerful tool for resistance and liberation, echoing the beats of change from South Africa to Mozambique. Now, as a “new liberation” gains whispers in the land, opposition leader Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) is using political songs to rally Ugandans toward a different narrative. The National Resistance Movement/National Resistance Army (NRM/NRA) rebellion, often sold as a liberation for Uganda, has left many questioning its promises, fuelling a belief that the country’s journey remains unfinished.
Historical Context: Music in African Liberations
Music fuelled struggles in South Africa (anti-apartheid anthems like Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika), Zimbabwe (Chimurenga songs), Angola, and Mozambique, amplifying unity and defiance. In Uganda’s bush war in the Luwero Triangle (1981-1986), songs mobilised the largely Baganda rank-and-file, though the rebellion’s regional ambitions – extending influence into Rwanda and Eastern Congo – raise questions about whose liberation it truly served.
Kyagulanyi’s Political Music: A New Liberation?
It is very useful to look at Bobi Wine’s journey from ghetto stories in Ghetto to anthems like Situka (“Rise Up”). His music critiques governance and inequality and champions youth empowerment, morphing into a rallying cry for People Power/NUP. As he sings, “Situka means rise up, not just for myself, but for every Ugandan.” This way Bobi Wine is focused on meaningful and effective liberation of Uganda in its entirety: its identities, belonging, independence, nationality, sovereignty, citizenship, cultures and all the captured civic spaces.
Themes
Bobi Wine’s political quest for the new liberation of Uganda and its people can be cast in three themes:
1. Resistance against oppression, combined army-police brutality.
2. Calls for accountability, social justice.
3. A “new Uganda”: united, inclusive, equitable, reclaiming sovereignty.
It is most likely that most Ugandan politicians – those in power and in opposition – have allocated time to critically think and reason about Bobi Wine’s new station in Uganda’s body politic. They are looking at him in very simplistic and dismissive ways. Many of them focus on his past in the spirit of No Change and fail to see that he has moved miles ahead and that his messages speak to both the old and new generations of Ugandans. I have heard the more critically aware academics and intellectuals that abhor their current situation of fear and silence admitting that Bobi Wine might be the one they have been waiting for to liberate their academia and themselves from capture and estrangement.
Impact
What all this means is that Bobi Wine’s music and his own person have impacted the Ugandan society and people quite profoundly in less than a decade. It will never be the same. Not even the brutality of the army and police and the let-down of Ugandans by the orthodox politicians will decelerate the wind of change that Bobi Wine and his music have ushered in, especially among the young people. It is not true that the crowds that have recently thronged Bobi Wine’s rallies in all parts of the country are just anxious to see a former music icon, as many orthodox politicians are wrongly emphasising to the diverse electorate. It seems the people want the new narrative Bobi Wine is putting across. They are tired of hearing the same old narrative from the 1980s in a century of new information and new communication. Of course, just like President Tibuhaburwa Museveni said, he is the master of violence; Bobi Wine has cast himself as the beneficiary of the digital age.
Therefore, I can unequivocally state that Bobi Wine’s impact is five in one:
1. He has energised youth, filled stadiums, and fuelled protests.
2. He has bridged generational gaps, making change feel tangible and people less fearful and less silent.
3. He and his supporters face censorship and arrests, but he has shown courage and leadership in adversity as he continues to spread his influence and liberation messages through digital spaces, thereby being visible globally.
4. The “New Liberation” Narrative (NLN) appeals to the young generations of Ugandans and is embraced by some older Ugandans who were not convinced by the Old Liberation Narrative (OLN).
5. There is growing discontent with corruption, unemployment, occupation and restricted freedoms. This is fuelling a belief that Uganda’s liberation is incomplete. Bobi Wine continues to tap into this frustration, using music to amplify a call for systemic change, much like Fela Kuti did in Nigeria – blending protest with art.
Therefore, if anyone thought art and music were useless and should be devalued in schools and universities, it is a good lesson we learn from Bobi Wine that they are effective tools for liberation.
Challenges and Reflections
Many obstacles remain to be confronted by Bobi Wine’s New Liberation Movement: these include state crackdowns and censorship. However, Bobi Wine is balancing hope with caution, adapting his activism to survive and spread his message of new liberation. So far so good for his New Liberation Narrative. It now remains for Ugandans to use the ballot paper to show that the message of New Liberation has sunk in their minds, even if President Tibuhaburwa Museveni said a mere piece of paper cannot remove him from power and that he is like a cotter pin of a bicycle, which goes in by knocking and comes out by knocking.
Questions
Whatever political achievements Bobi Wine has recorded using digital space, music and art, two questions will remain begging for answers:
1. How does music translate to tangible change?
2. Can music unite Uganda’s diverse voices beyond urban hubs?
Well, we have to wait for critical analysts who have been following Bobi Wine’s presidential campaign trail to tell us what they critically think 5 years later the impact of Bobi Wine is since he plunged himself into the messy politics of Uganda.
Ultimately, however, it is what the voters vote (New Liberation or Old Liberation?) and what the managers of the coming 2026 General Elections decide to tell the world came out of those elections that will determine whether Uganda will remain with the old liberation narrative from the 20th century or embrace the new liberation narrative.
Conclusion
Bobi Wine’s music is a rallying cry for a Uganda seeking renewal, challenging the status quo and inspiring hope. As the country listens to the beat of Situka, the question remains: will the rhythm of change outlast the silence?
For God and My Country.
Prof. oweyegha-Afunaduula
Center for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis
