NAIROBI – Uganda’s Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi sharply criticized a military raid on opposition leader Bobi Wine’s residence last month, insisting to reporters that the popstar-turned-politician committed no crime and remains free to return home.
Wine has remained in hiding for weeks since escaping his Kampala home just before election officials declared him runner-up to long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni on January 15. On January 24, Wine claimed soldiers stormed the property, partially undressing and choking his wife before she required hospital treatment.
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the military chief and Museveni’s son, rejected allegations of assaulting Wine’s wife but later posted on X that troops had “captured and then released” her. As government spokesperson, Baryomunsi pledged an investigation, declaring, “We do not condone any acts of indiscipline on the side of the army and security forces. Invading his home, causing damage, assaulting his wife or anybody, is wrong.”
He sidestepped questions on potential penalties for any implicated personnel. Wine’s National Unity Platform party offered no immediate response to inquiries.
Kainerugaba has used social media to announce a military hunt for Wine, who disputes the election results as fraudulent, though no specific charges have been detailed. Rights organizations and opposition voices have long charged Museveni’s four-decade regime with deploying the army to stifle dissent, a claim authorities reject.
Baryomunsi also dismissed Kainerugaba’s recent X post threatening to withdraw Ugandan troops from an African Union anti-jihadist mission in Somalia over funding woes, affirming no such plans exist. Noting the general’s pattern of provocative, later-deleted posts, including past threats to behead Wine and claims of killing 30 opposition supporters, Baryomunsi called them “casual comments that do not reflect state policy.”