Bobi Wine reaches home to huge celebration

Ugandan politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as pop star Bobi Wine, gives a press conference in Washington, DC, for the first time after being treated for beatings he allegedly received from security officers after his arrest last month in Uganda, September 6, 2018. PHOTO | ERIC BARADAT | AFP

What you need to know:

As soon as he landed at the airport, security forces promptly chauffeured him away.

Musician turned celebrity politician, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, has just arrived at his home in Magere, outside Kampala, almost three hours after landing at Entebbe International Airport.

As soon as he landed, security forces promptly chauffeured him away.

'DEFEANING NOISE'

Daily Monitor journalists Andrew Bagala and Alex Esagala, who are in Magere, spoke of "deafening noise" in the neighbourhood.

Police have blocked journalists and supporters from entering the home of the Kyadondo East Member of Parliament, an increasingly vocal critic of President Museveni’s government.

On Wednesday, police made it clear in a statement that they would transport the legislator to his home and arrest anybody who welcomed him at the airport or stayed by the roads to catch a glimpse of him.

Mr Wine's wife Barbie earlier said they did not know where police were taking him.

"After landing at Entebbe, security surrounded him and took him away. We are not sure where they are taking him," she said.

Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola, however, tweeted that “nobody has arrested him", in reference to the politician who returned from the United States where he went for specialised treatment for injuries he said were inflicted as police tortured him.

Mr Okoth-Ochola said: “We are just simply escorting and providing security to him as we promised yesterday. He (Bobi) is heading home."

ROADBLOCKS

Police and soldiers, supported with intelligence operatives, set up a number of roadblocks on the highway to the airport and blocked motorists from using the alternative Entebbe expressway.

Those who dared them were either arrested or beaten, and forced to retreat.

Journalists were barred from accessing the airport and about have a dozen were taken in for questioning, although police Spokesman Emilian Kayima said they were all freed.

He said in a statement: “Today, Thursday, September 20, 2018, Hon. Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi returned to the country and was peacefully escorted by the police to his residence in Magere, Wakiso District.

"We wish to thank him for cooperating with the police at Entebbe International Airport who provided him with transport, escort and a lead car to his home."

He thanks “members of the public” for in his words “adhering” to police’s guidelines issued on Wednesday for Bobi’s home-coming after three weeks away in the United States from where he led an international media blitz to criticise the Uganda government.

'DRACONIAN STEPS'

Social media users accused the government of taking draconian methods to keep citizens and opposition politicians at bay.

Shortly after Mr Kayima’s statement, the Uganda Media Centre (UMC), a government communication clearing house, issued a public notice to confirm Mr Wine was safely at his home after “cooperating” with police.

With journalists denied access to the airport, it remained unclear what transpired on the tarmac, from where the legislator was picked by security forces.

In the Thursday statement, UMC Executive Director Ofwono Opondo, noted that: “For avoidance of any doubt, Hon Kyagulanyi did not attempt to resist police request to escort him home.”

At his home, nevertheless, it was all celebration. The crowd gathered rapidly, prompting police and soldiers to push them back before firing live bullets and teargas to disperse them..

Some of them sang altered renditions of a popular pro-Milton Obote song, substituting the name of the former two-time Uganda President, who died in 2005, with that of Mr Wine.