02/02/2021
By Egesa Ronald Leonard
How Bobi Kyagulanyi is reshaping Ugandan Politics
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A few days ago, he authored an Open Letter to NBS asking them to come clean on their role in the grand election theft of January 14th. The shallow minded reacted by telling me to open my station and broadcast as I wish. I advised one of them to re-read my letter and ponder on the intention and then delete his ill-thought comment. That said, every piece is falling into place and we are still on script.
Unlike, all the previous major contenders with Museveni, Kyagulanyi has a stronghold and a fanatical following which takes his word for a divine instruction of sorts. Kyagulanyi entered politics with a big brand built out of music. He sang his way into people's hearts. He obtained favour before their eyes. Kyagulanyi is the closest that Ugandan politicians have come to Raila Amolo Odinga. Kyagulanyi is seen as the face of the oppressed who has the bravery to combat the beastly acts and might of the rogue state (oppressor).
In moving into the Raila Odinga realm, Kyagulanyi, as a brand has become bigger than any political or corporate brand in the country. This gives him leverage in hitting the Museveni regime in many other ways outside open political agitation on the streets. If Kyagulanyi were to take the route of economic sabotage and outrightly tell his followers to shun NBS Television or any other corporate brand, the impact will be felt and the revenue will dwindle. This is precisely the greatest fear that Museveni had on that night when he was declared President-elect using the fabricated results of Byabakama and his cronies. Museveni understands better than anybody else that losing the entire Central and Busoga regions which contribute 93% of the taxes to URA exposes him to many battles that Kyagulanyi can wage without Museveni having the chance to win such battles using military hardware and personnel as he has always done.
On the issue of NBS TV, many local pundits and media practitioners clearly overrate media houses in the modern age. They still give media houses ratings they carried in pre-social media and pre-internet times. They also do not understand that Kyagulanyi has gone beyond what any contender to Museveni has ever achieved. There is a figment of imagination that they carry that there is a local traditional media outlet that can undo or hurt the Kyagulanyi political brand. For starters, the Kyagulanyi political brand has been made and fortified by three things namely; his music, social media and international media. NBS, UBC, NTV and all other local media pretenders have not made Kyagulanyi the politician he is today. In fact, they had better make peace with him before he starts an economic war – which is likely to begin sooner rather than later.
The moment Kyagulanyi outs a list of businesses for his followers to shun because of their perceived role in election theft, he will have moved closer to bringing down the support system of the regime. In fact, this economic war is the perfect way to get under the skin of the thieves that have been telling Museveni lies and encouraging him to soldier on against the biological capacity of his body. The thieves run chains of restaurants, supermarkets, internet service providers, telecom companies, media houses and many others. Their businesses are well known and can be isolated for different phases of the economic war. Unless these thieves feel the heat and turn it on their political deity, he [Museveni] will still think that every problem can be solved by military might.
After the economic war, there are several other options available to Kyagulanyi that cannot be handled militarily and these will further weaken Museveni. Some of these wars will be fought within and using key institutions of the State and the political establishment. The political gods are really smiling for Kyagulanyi. The young man is reshaping the country's politics for good. Now is the worst time in Ugandan history for one to be a Museveni strategist!
Egesa Ronald Leonard
