Bobi In ‘Extreme Fear’ As USA Associate Senator Bob Found Guilty Of Corruption

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, the President of Uganda’s National Unity Platform (NUP) is engulfed by “extreme fear” after a jury in the USA found his close associate, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (DP), guilty of 16 counts related to a corruption scheme where he accepted bribes for helping foreign governments, yesterday.

It is said that Menendez who has been a strong backer for Kyagulanyi since 2020, has been providing funding to the NUP party intending to help Bobi to take over the government in Uganda.

“When he [Bobi] got the news that his great buddy in the US Senator Bob, the principal [Bobi Wine] broke down in tears,” a source who is very close to Bobi said in an interview, “he fears that his [Bob’s] conviction may affect him financially and morally because he has been projecting himself as a man of higher moral grounds than any other politician in Uganda.”

The source added, “the principal was very worried that tables were going to turn against him because people would start questioning his moral authority to ask questions about corruption yet his close associate who propagated him to US leadership was proved to be corrupt. He [Bobi] now feels that his enemies have got a bigger weapon added in their arsenal to thump him and the NUP as a whole.”

Already, Bobi is facing a barrage of accusations regarding party funds’ expenditure accountability for both known and unknown sources, his “extravagance,” lack of clear strategy on which he runs the party, and the brand of grandstanding approach he uses to play politics.

Another sensitive issue for Bobi to satisfactorily quell is the allegation that their working relationship with convicted Menendez could lead to the establishment of a drug cartel and a significant proliferation in homosexuality promotion in Uganda whose Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), is still being challenged by promoters of LGBTQ+ activists.

Manendez’s blemishing verdict found his associate Bobi in western Uganda on a second phase of party’s mobilization tours which he is using to rally especially youths to “join others in other areas of Uganda to rise up,” in emulation of their Kenyan Gen Z counterparts.

Apparently, activists identifying themselves as anti-corruption crusaders, and now opposition politicians are organising a March2Parliament protest on July 23, 2024 aimed at calling out “corrupt” politicians.

Back to USA, the jury convicted Menendez after more than 12 hours of deliberation over three days.

The trial lasted nine weeks, and Menendez faces decades in prison. Democratic legislators have called on him to step down from Congress in light of his conviction.

Despite the verdict, Menendez maintained that he is innocent and never violated his public oath. His lawyer, Adam Fee, said that he was “surprised and disappointed” with the jury’s guilty verdict and has vowed to appeal “aggressively.”

Prosecutors said the case represented “shocking levels of corruption.” Menendez accepted over-the-top rewards from foreign governments, including gold bars worth over $100,000.

The senator helped secure millions of dollars in US aid for Egypt, where one of his associates had connections to government officials. He was also accused of trying to influence criminal probes involving two businessmen.

Both businessmen were co-defendants in Menendez’s case and were also convicted on the counts they faced. Menendez is currently running as an independent to retain his seat in the USA in November’s election.

Most Democrats in the state walked away from him last year after the release of the indictment showing gold bars stashed in his home. Democratic Congressman Andy Kim said the verdict marked “a sad and sombre day” for New Jersey.

Kim called on Menendez to step down immediately, saying the people of New Jersey deserve better. Menendez has faced federal corruption charges before, with a previous case ending in a mistrial.

The senator’s conviction has sparked concerns about corruption in politics and the need for accountability. The case has also raised questions about Menendez’s future in politics.

As the news of Menendez’s conviction spreads, many are left wondering what this means for the future of politics in New Jersey and beyond.