The Buganda Road court granted bail to Ugandan Afro-pop star and lawmaker Bobi Wine on Thursday in a case connected to his involvement in anti-social media tax protests last year.
Magistrate Esther Nahirya granted bail after hearing Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s application but warned him that he would be put in jail if he is found engaged in any unlawful demonstrations when free. His bail hearing was conducted with him in a dock at the Luzira Maximum Security Prisons where he is being held. Wine is required to deposit one million Ugandan shillings as part of his bail bond, reported Africa News.
On the issue of his recent arrest, Wine managed to leave home to attend the funeral of a prominent politician in Busoga in eastern Uganda before he was re-arrested, slapped with charges of disobedience of statutory duty and remanded till his hearing on Thursday.
“It is not me on trial, it is the court itself on trial,” Wine said via video link when he was granted the opportunity to speak. “If standing for what is right is going to hand me my freedom, I will thank God for it. If standing for what is right is going to keep me in this prison then I will thank God even louder. After all, I have a lot of work to do, even here in prison.”
Notably, it was the first time that Uganda justice system used video conferencing for the application hearing. It is likely that video conferencing was used to reduce the chances of exchanges with supporters of Bobi Wine’s People Power movement.
Wine has emerged a real challenger to the veteran President Yoweri Museveni, who intends to run for a sixth term in 2021. Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986 and even resorted to changing the country’s constitution twice to extend his stay in office.
