Uganda's Bobi Wine says food supplies over amid 'house arrest'
Monday January 18 2021
Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, talks on the phone after talking to members of the media at one of his the gates of his home in Magere, Uganda, on January 15, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
Ugandan politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as musician Bobi Wine says that four days since the military surrounded his home amid a tense general election in the country, his family has run out of food supplies.
Via Twitter on Sunday, he saod he and his wife were placed under house arrest.
"We have run out of food supplies ... when my wife tried to pick food from the garden yesterday, she was blocked and assaulted by the soldiers staged in our compound," read a tweet on his official page.
Wine's allegations come after the Electoral Commission of Uganda declared Saturday that long-serving President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had won another five-year term in office.
Mr Museveni won 58.64 per cent of the total votes cast (5,851,037), EC chair Simon Byabakama announced in a televised address.
His closest rival Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Platform, came second with 34.83 per cent (3,475,298).
Wine, of the National Unity Platform, who was his closest rival came second with 34.83 per cent (3,475,298).
A separate tweet on Wine's added, "Everyone including media and my party officials are restricted from accessing me. Zaake Francis, MP representing Mityana Municipality in the 10th Parliament was arrested outside my gate as he made his way to my house. He was badly beaten by soldiers. He is now in Rubaga hospital."
Military's position
The politician did not give proof of the allegations.
On Friday, however, after Wine tweeted that the military had taken control of his home, the army and police dismissed the claims, saying he had not been arrested and that they were merely protecting him.
"It is true that police and other security agencies are around his premises ... outside, not inside his home, but that is basically to ensure security in the area," Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire told NTV Uganda.
"He is not under arrest. We have just provided security in the area. Nothing much."
Mr Owoyesigyire further said two people tried to jump over Wine's fence but that they stepped in and arrested one while the other escaped.
He added that another person, who knocked on the gate but had not been invited to the home, was arrested for interrogation about his intentions.
"If we find they are no threat to the honourable and the home, they will be released."