Bebe Cool 'has right to freedom of opinion'

Lubwama told local media on Wednesday that it was wrong for the public to castigate Bebe Cool over his political views. This after objects were hurled at the singer during a performance at Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala last Friday. Bebe Cool was eventually heckled off the stage.

"People should respect our music industry,” Lubwama said. “You should have waited for Bebe Cool to first sing and then go fight in the marketplace. Stop mixing politics with music. No one can fight in church and the discipline you have in church should be the same at music shows. My advice to Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool is to control their mouths.”

Bebe Cool, an ardent supporter of President Yoweri Museveni, has repeatedly made comments on social about Bobi Wine's August arrest, saying that the musician-turned-politician was faking his injuries. Bebe Cool also accused Bobi Wine of looking for sympathy to further his political career.

"Media, you had your cameras. Watching this young man getting into the car after court, he held the car with one arm and raised the other arm with the crutch,” Bebe Cool said during an interview with NTV on Monday.

“You look at a man putting on the heaviest shoe, one that even people whose legs are not sick feel they cannot move with it because it is too heavy, and media still don’t analyse that.’’

In another development, Bobi Wine and his international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, held a press conference in Washington DC yesterday to brief journalists about the politico’s imprisonment and alleged torture.

Bobi Wine said he was determined to keep advocating for democracy in Uganda.

“Ugandans have always wanted freedom and to live in a country where leaders serve them,” he said. “It is not about Bobi Wine any more. I am among the over 40 million Ugandans that want freedom, justice and dignity. As soon as my treatment is done, we are going back home where I will continue to engage and explore all descent options to liberate ourselves.”

Amsterdam said the Ugandan government would be held accountable for human rights violations.

“We are going to open up an investigation on the deaths, car accidents and suspicious poisoning of opponents of this regime," he said. "Bobi Wine and his colleagues can no longer be silent victims of torture and brutality."

He also urged the US government to cut off military funding to Uganda and issue travel bans for government officials who have been implicated in human rights violations.

“We want the American taxpayer to know that the American taxpayer is funding this. The military equipment we are supplying to Uganda is being used in a war of terror against Uganda’s citizens," Amsterdam said.