By Nathan Mboowa
The government has said it will give Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine all the protection he needs when he returns to the Country this Thursday from his medical/mobilisation tour to the United States.
Government spokesperson and Executive Director of the Uganda Media Centre Ofwono Opondo said Bobi Wine is ‘as free as a bird in the air’ to return to Uganda. He added that the government would escort him to his home in Magere if he so wishes.
Opondo however reminded Bobi that he still has a treason case hanging over his head and will have to deal with it upon return.
In his video message that was posted on his Facebook page Kyagulanyi confirmed he will return to Uganda on Thursday. He however warned of a counter plan by his detractors of planting people and dressing them in Red People Power T-Shirts to cause violence when he returns.
He denounced violence and reiterated that he stands for peaceful change and an end to what he called oppression by the government .
Bobi’s absence had kept the government very busy in trying to white wash the violence they visited on unarmed people. The president has since Bobi’s departure publicly spoken out thrice on top of dolling out millions of shillings to youth groups as a gesture that he supports the causes of young people.
Bobi’s tour helped to highlight the brute violence which opposition figures say has come to characterise the NRM government. While in the US, the European Parliament passed a resolution that criticised the government of Uganda for torturing opposition, journalists and innocent people.
The EU vowed to use its aid leverage to force Uganda to stop the acts of violence and ensure it abides by its own legal standards.
Bobi’s return coincides with the 73rd UN General Assembly that starts today September 13, at the United Nations in New York. President Yoweri Museveni is expected to attend the session but his presence will be made the more difficult by planned protests by Ugandans living in the US. Human Rights agencies have also submitted petitions to the UN cricitizing Uganda’s human rights record of torture and unexplained murders.
