Music goes beyond entertainment. It educates, it empowers and even acts as a tool of criticism against social evils including bad governance.
Since the beginning of August, Africa and the world has had a front seat to the treatment of Ugandan MP and Musician Bobi Wine, also known as Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu. Bobi Wine was not only arrested and beaten up, he was also set up to be charged in a military court even though he is a civilian. Even though the charges in the military court were dropped, he still had to be charged for treason. His appearance in court had many people worried because of the state of his health: he was not able to walk and had to use crutches to aid him.
He was given bail and many thought it was the end of his ordeal. However, he was re-captured at Entebbe Airport as he tried to fly out of the country for treatment in the United States. The uproar caused forced the authority to allow him to travel for medical attention.
Bobi Wine joins the long list of popular musicians jailed or mistreated by governments because of their criticism.
Here are other popular African musicians who have suffered the same, or even worse fates.
Latonya Johnson and her 21-year-old daughter Laila Birchett are celebrating their graduation from Rutgers School…
Tributes have been pouring in from boxing greats for Sherif Lawal who passed away after…
Jordan Benston is the founder, owner, and operator of The Oracle Media, a black female-owned…
Cameron Robinson has attained a significant milestone at the age of twelve. He received an…
Legendary singer Stevie Wonder had one of his wishes fulfilled when he celebrated his 74th…
Baldwin Richardson Foods is a global manufacturer of custom ingredients for the food and beverage…
Loretta Mack has fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming a registered nurse at 69 years…
A community in eastern Ethiopia buried twelve lightning survivors up to their necks and also…
Da'Kyah, a Minneapolis kindergartener, had to be hospitalized after suffering a mysterious illness as a…
Eritrean-American comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish recently opened up about a period in her childhood…
Steven L. Reed is the first black mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. The state of Alabama…
Chef Tobias Dorzon, an ex-NFL player turned chef and restaurateur, has been selected Chef of…
Tamiah Brevard-Rodriguez welcomed her son in the passenger seat of her wife’s Maserati, then seamlessly…
An aspiring doctor, who nearly drowned after being pushed into a Louisiana lake, has indicated…
Oluwami (Wami) Dosunmu-Ogunbi is the first Black woman to get a PhD in robotics at…