Bobi Wine tells artists to stand up and fight for their rights

Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has urged artists to stand up and fight for their rights as a united force against the new rules and regulations set to be introduced in the entertainment Industry.

Bobi Wine's remarks follow protests from artists and stakeholders in the industry against the new regulatory proposals that require singers, poets, comedians to submit their works and scripts for review and approval by government agencies before they can be released to the public.

The protest was sparked by the arrest of Kadongokamu singer Gerald Kiweewa and members of Bizonto, a comedy group for allegedly fuelling tribalism.

But Bobi Wine said the arrest of some members in the industry is to scare away artists from telling the truth about the things that hurt them as Ugandans.

"I have spent two years without performing, my songs were banned. My songs are not played on radio and television stations without any reason. I have not broken any law but it is because this government understands that music is powerful," Bobi Wine said during an interview with NBS Uncut on Monday.

Bobi Wine said the new regulations were not only introduced to fight him but to stop artists who would like to join politics because music has always been a big threat to the ruling regime.

"People didn't know that an artist can be as serious as Bobi Wine who can stand for the president of this country.The law was put in place to fight me as Bobi Wine and also to make sure that no artist comes out to be as powerful as me,"he said.

He said creativity is a human right and everyone is free to be creative in any way but these new regulations are meant to cripple artists from coming up with new ideas therefore they must be fought.

"I am member of parliament but our parliament is useless. Let me repeat it, out parliament is a rubber stamp and I keep saying this. Parliament is powerless because those who sit there don't think for themselves more especially NRM members,"he said.