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Bobi Wine has just fired the first shot in the battle for the land of the 7Gs

Tuesday August 28 2018
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So the generals have the guns, but have you noticed that guns and guitars are shaped and held in the same way? Born 35 years ago on the eve of the Generals taking power, Bobi Wine with his music took crept onto the scene and finally took centrestage. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGAH | NMG

By JOACHIM BUWEMBO

Uganda’s G7 journey could be entering its last lap. G-words started shaping our nation’s destiny over a century ago when the colonialists brought superior Guns, the first G, into Uganda’s politics.

The second G, for Generals, came at the end of World War II as the East African soldiers, locally called “baseveni” because they belonged to the 7th Battalion of the King’s African Rifles, inspired anti-colonial mobilisation. Children born then became the generals who shook up the post-independence leadership and are now in the evening of their careers.

After removing Idi Amin in 1979, the generals were irritated that “even” civilians wanted to lead and kept asking top electoral contender Paulo Ssemogerere, “Where are your generals?”

So the generals have the guns, but have you noticed that guns and guitars are shaped and held in the same way? So enter the third G, the Guitar, which crept onto the scene and finally took centrestage in June 2017 when Robert Kyagulanyi, whose stage name is Bobi Wine, won a by-election in the semi-urban Kyadondo East constituency to become a Member of Parliament.

Born 35 years ago on the eve of the Generals taking power, Bobi Wine styled himself “President of the Ghetto” – the fourth G, which represents the youth among whom unemployment is estimated to be 85 per cent and who cannot wait for change.

The arena for the battle of the Generations – the fifth G – is now the entire land of Uganda, whose name is derived from “Ganda,” the sixth G, which means “bundle” or unity in the local language.

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Barely three months in parliament, the man with the guitar took command of the opposition during the infamous battle in the House to amend the Constitution and remove the presidential age limit.

He has in one year traversed Ganda-land campaigning for parliamentary candidates in our country of endless elections and whoever he backs, wins, the latest beneficiary being Kassiano Wadri, MP elect for Arua Municipality who was arrested before polling day but still won from prison anyway.

Bobi Wine himself was arrested at an Arua Hotel, taken away, tortured and arraigned semi-conscious in the Military Court Martial.

When word went around that his kidney had been damaged during the torture, kidney offers came in from different corners of Uganda. The local word for kidney is the same as “seed.” These are the days of seeding, thanks to the Pentecostal wave.

And finally, there is Bobi’s wife, the seventh G for Girl. If Bobi Wine captured the youth’ imaginations with his music, he also brought with him the girl to complete the picture.

Barbie Kyagulanyi is a stunningly pretty young lady who came into the limelight as she rode at her husband’s side during his campaign for parliament last year. Now following Bobi’s incarceration, Barbie has had to step from the background to the front, making statements and fielding interviews with the local and international media.

The girl is just as combative and articulate as her husband, indicating that the new Generation has no shortage of leaders; Bobi Wine just fired the first shot and may not necessarily be the one to complete the battle for his generation.

For generals don’t just step aside to let boys take over without a fight. It doesn’t happen in the animal kingdom. It won’t.

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