On July 7th, 2025, BBC News published a headline that read:

“Yoweri Museveni has been endorsed by the ruling party as its candidate in the 2026 election.”

Accompanied by a smiling image of Uganda’s 80-year-old ruler, the caption framed this moment as just another routine political development. But to millions of Ugandans especially the youth, this was not news. It was a slap in the face. It was a continuation of a 40-year nightmare disguised as democracy.

I commented under that post calmly but firmly exposing Museveni’s long record of repression, corruption, and illegitimacy. Within hours, my comment had been deleted. By the next morning, BBC News had blocked my account from interacting with their page. I had to access their page using a different account with my comment deleted.

No warning. No explanation. No appeal.

Let that sink in. A British publicly-funded media house silenced an Ugandan citizen for exposing decades of abuse, in the comments section of their own post. Whom do they serve, what are they protecting??

What Did I Say That Deserved to Be Erased?

Here’s the truth that BBC did not want to remain under their post:

For nearly four decades, Yoweri Museveni has not ruled Uganda through democratic consent but through violence, constitutional manipulation, and military force. Since 1986, he has held onto power through rigged elections, brutal crackdowns, and legislative coups. He was not elected by the people in 1986, nor in 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, or 2021.

In 2005, he bribed MPs to remove term limits a safeguard meant to prevent exactly this kind of life presidency. Then in 2017, when age threatened to disqualify him, he sent soldiers into Parliament to beat up lawmakers and remove the presidential age limit by force. These weren’t democratic reforms. They were constitutional rapes carried out at gunpoint.

Museveni didn’t come to power through the ballot. He came with bullets preaching against long-serving leaders only to become Africa’s longest-serving dictator.

Uganda Under Siege By Its Own Government

Uganda is not a democracy. It is a state under internal occupation. The police have become hunters. The army, a personal militia. Parliament, a circus of cowardice. Activists vanish into “torture houses.” Protesters are gunned down in the streets. In November 2020, more than 100 Ugandans were killed in cold blood simply for demanding the release of opposition leader Bobi Wine.

Today, youth unemployment is over 70%, hospitals are crumbling, and education is a luxury. Meanwhile, billions are siphoned through fake contracts, inflated military budgets, and ghost projects. Uganda’s national debt now exceeds 52% of GDP but the money doesn’t build; it maintains dictatorship.

Then the West’s Dirty Hands in Uganda’s Oppression

Museveni survives not on popular support, but on Western protection. Britain, the EU, and the United States continue to arm, finance, and legitimize his regime. To them, Museveni is a “stabilizer” in the Great Lakes region a useful gatekeeper in exchange for oil, gold, and mineral access. Their commitment to democracy ends at their borders.

Original Deleted comment

The same BBC that blocked me would never silence a Ukrainian, Palestinian, or Russian dissident for criticizing a regime. But they erased my voice a Black African fighting for justice in my own country. That is not journalism. That is complicity.

Why Was I Silenced for Speaking the Truth?

If my words were wrong, they could have been debated.

If my tone was aggressive, it could have been challenged.

But I was blocked and erased. That tells you everything.

Museveni fears the youth. He fears the truth. But now, so do his international enablers because the narrative is slipping.

Uganda’s young people are awake, informed, and angry. We are not afraid. Museveni is not a president he is a parasite, a relic clinging to power, feeding off a nation he has robbed for 40 years. He has overstayed, over-bled, and overruled Uganda. And we are ready to take it back.

To the BBC and the West You Can’t Silence Us All

If BBC wants to side with power instead of people, history will judge them. If they believe blocking one activist will stop the truth, they are mistaken. My voice echoes millions of others who are rising to say:

Enough is enough.

Uganda does not belong to Museveni.

It belongs to its people.

And we are coming for our future.

JB Muwonge

Social Activist | Human Rights Defender

📧 contact@jbmuwonge.com

🌍 www.jbmuwonge.com

NUP LAUNCHES FUNDRAISING DRIVE FOR 2026 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Today at our headquarters in Makerere-Kavule, we have launched a global fundraising drive to raise money and other material resources necessary to take us through the forthcoming general elections. We have constituted a Committee led by Hon. Balimwezo Ronald Nsubuga to oversee this exercise. Other members of the Committee include Hon. Kaaya Christine Nakimwero and Ms. Fatuma Kassim.

Comrades who are supporting this cause have been categorized and they will receive certificates from one star to five star depending on the amount that they commit to this cause for instance those who qualify to attain certificates are those who donate UGX 100,000 and above.

We are grateful to party leaders, members, aspiring leaders, and members of the general public who turned up in droves today and contributed generously to the cause.

We humbly appeal to whoever wishes to contribute to either send your contribution through bank or mobile money (see poster below) or bring the contribution physically to our headquarters.

Every contribution is acknowledged with an official receipt, although contributions above UGX 100,000/= additionally get a Certificate of Appreciation. Contributions in cash or in kind (such as branding material, fuel, non-monetary services, etc) are all welcome.

#PeoplePowerOurPower

#ProtestVote

Reminder;

Believe it or not, by year 3020, “BOBI WINE AND PEOPLE POWER” will be a defining topic in African books of history.

Our sons and daughters will have the privilege of reading about this brilliant, fearless, and patriotic young leader who flipped the script, sacrificed his celebrity lifestyle and took it upon himself to free Uganda from a long Serving dictator, M7 who had misruled Uganda for 40 years.

It will be both an inspiring and heartbreaking sad tale for our grand sons and daughters as they will be subjected to scripts that will feature the high Corruption rate , the Impunity, Unemployment,

nepotism, Military rule, land grabbing, endless Murders of innocent Ugandans, and so much more that existed before Bobi Wine’s leadership.

But as they read between the lines, they will shed tears of joy knowing that Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, aka Bobi Wine, and the entire People Power movement eventually triumphed, transformed Uganda, set strong democratic precedents, and paved the way that leaders after them followed to steer the nation in the right direction, the nation our grand sons and daughters will be enjoying by that time.

By then, the People Power revolution will have swept and dismantled dictatorships across Africa, as African nations that were subjects of dictatorship gained confidence after seeing it done in Uganda. By this time, Uganda is now a developed country, the pearl of Africa again – in its true meaning, in all aspects of life social economic and political, Everything went back to normal, you cant believe we have ever had a dictator called Museveni. The days of dictatorship will feel like a distant, unimaginable past.

Statues of Bobi Wine, clad in full People Power combat gear and the iconic beret, stand tall in major cities. People come take photos, shoot films, and document history—without fear of teargas or repression. A free and democratic Uganda finally a reality.

Bwetukomawo, today is February 3, 2025.

The weight of this change rests on our shoulders, and the truth is no one is going to do it for us. If we want a free Uganda, we must rise as a generation, stand together, and take action.

This fight demands more than just hope, it requires courage, trust, discipline, and an unshakable resolve. The forces of oppression will test us as they have done countless tyms but we must stand firm, knowing that every sacrifice, every effort, brings us closer to victory.

And make no mistake, at the end of it all, we shall win. Uganda will be free, and history will remember this generation as the one that refused to kneel before tyranny.

The time is now. The struggle continues. Together, we shall overcome.

I remain,#JBMuwonge #PeoplePowerOurPower