Bobi Wine named among world’s most influential people

Musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has been named among the 100 most influential people in the World.

The list dubbed, ‘Time 100 Next’ was issued by the American news magazine-Time.

The magazine says it is meant to “spotlight 100 rising stars who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, science, health and more”.

The Kyadondo East legislator has also become the first Ugandan to be feature in the Time 100 Next since inception in 1999.

“I am very delighted to share this recognition with 99 other highly accomplished individuals who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, health, science and activism, and more,” Bobi Wine who is currently in the United States said on social media.

The politician has been described as ‘Ugandan pop star who spent his career singing about social justice’.

Ugandan pop star Bobi Wine spent his career singing about social injustice. In 2017, he decided to take things a step further by running for, and winning, a seat in parliament. Now the 37-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has set his sights higher, announcing in July that he will take on President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled for the past 33 years through a combination of deft politics, questionable election practices and constitutional manipulation. “Eighty percent of our population is under the age of 35. They deserve a leader who works for the future of Uganda, not for himself.” Wine’s growing popularity amounts to peril. He has been jailed, beaten and charged with treason—proof, he says, that the President is running scared well in advance of the 2021 election and that change is on the way. — said Time’s Aryn Baker.

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