Season 3, Episode 2 | Bobi Wine

The Bertelsmann Foundation and Aspen Institute are pleased to announce the premiere of Season Three of the Leadership in Action series. In episode two, Bobi Wine, a beloved musician turned opposition political leader takes viewers inside his perilous fight for democracy in Uganda.

For the last 37 years, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has ruled with an iron first, violently suppressing protest and democratic challenge. This made the choices of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu all the more surprising. Kyagulanyi, better known by his stage name Bobi Wine, had emerged from the neighborhoods of Kampala as a popular musician, by his telling, singing party tunes.

But as Kyagulanyi became exposed to the injustices in his country, his music transformed into anthems of freedom. Eventually, this pathway led him into politics, and the leadership of the opposition party. Despite police beatings, disappearances, house arrests, and the murder of his close associates and supporters, Bobi Wine continued to show leadership in action.

This is his story, in his own words – his dream for democracy.