The United Kingdom has officially lifted a travel ban on Bobi Wine that has been in place for over a decade, paving the way for him to travel to the UK in November to launch his diaspora mobilisation tours.
It was recently reported that the leader of Uganda’s National Unity Platform (NUP) would soon be allowed to enter the UK.
Bobi Wine was barred by the UK Home Office because of anti-gay lyrics he released in 2014.
In the lyrics, Bobi had urged the public to “shoot all the battymen”.
Human rights activists quickly put pressure on the Home Office to stop Bobi from performing at the Troxy Arena in the UK.
Since then, the Home Office has kept Bobi away from England.
Bobi Wine later engaged British diplomats, international lawyers and activists to allow him to travel to the UK.
The meetings took place at Bobi’s home in Magere, where he met with diplomats and activists from around the world.
NUP legal officer Benjamin Katana told ChimpReports on Monday morning that “it is true that the travel ban on Bobi Wine has been lifted”.
Katana said: “He (Bobi) has also been given a visa to travel to the UK.
International lawyers argued that Bobi had apologised for the anti-gay lyrics and had spent years campaigning for the rights of LGBTQ people and should be allowed to enter the UK.
According to British newspaper The Telegraph, veteran gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and others have publicly backed Bobi Wine and called for him to be allowed into the UK.
“He (Bobi) wants to come to promote a new film called Bobi Wine: Ghetto President, which charts his rise from a Kampala slum to take on one of Africa’s oldest autocracies,” the Telegraph said.
Part of the new film, to be released in November 2023, will be directed by British filmmaker Christopher Sharp and will focus on allegations of widespread electoral fraud in Uganda.
Bobi Wine has already missed a premiere of the film in August – his lawyers said the Home Office never responded to an application to let him in.
The power to exclude a foreign national lies with the Home Secretary, but he or she is expected to review decisions regularly.
