CHICAGO – The Kyadondo East legislator Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has appreciated the USA for the International Humanitarian Award that he received from Rev. Jesse Jackson, a champion of the Civil Rights Movement on Tuesday.
Bobi Wine regarded the Award as a sign that the world has heard what he termed as ‘cries for freedom’ in Uganda.
“Last night[Tuesday], I was very honoured to receive this year’s International Humanitarian Award from Rev. Jesse Jackson, a champion of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America,” said Bobi Wine in a statement.
“I am grateful to the Coalition he leads for this recognition, which only confirms to us that our cries for freedom are reaching the ears of the world. I dedicate this award to the men, women and children of Uganda who have paid the ultimate price in our struggles for democracy,” he added.
He said that “Those are the true heroes of our nation,” revealing that “this recognition only encourages us to work even more until our country is truly free from oppression, suppression and exploitation.”
Late June, Bobi Wine travelled to the USA to attend an international human rights conference that was graced by global human rights defenders and politicians.
The conference, which was organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, had former US Vice President Joe Biden as a special guest.
Other panelists were Momodou Jallow, an MP in Sweden; Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a Korean activist and associate professor of Theology; Daniela Gomes, a Brazilian journalist and activist; Nasir Zakaria, director of the Rohingya Culture Center in Chicago; Dr. Isabella Alexander, a human rights activist and filmmaker.
In his acceptance speech, Bobi Wine, who was accompanied by his Mityana Municipality counterpart Francis Zaake, said he was humbled by the award, which he said emboldens his fight against the dictator.
Earlier on Monday, the artiste, whose arrest and subsequent torture by security agencies following the Arua Municipality by-election in August last year attracted global condemnation, revealed that many Ugandans are languishing in jail while others have been tortured for speaking against the ruling NRM government.
“I am not speaking to you as an expert on human rights law. Far from that, I’m just an ordinary citizen of the world born and raised in the biggest slum of Uganda, the ghetto of Kamwokya. That’s where I come from. My passion to fight for freedom was indeed not born out of the classroom… It was born out of the streets, out of my experience from growing up out of the poorest in Uganda and those are the people who face the worst human rights violations in my country Uganda…,” he said.
The legislator added that his own torture is nothing compared to what other Ugandans are going through.
