Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu advised Ugandan artists to renounce their loyalty to him and ask the government in return to pass the Copyright law.
Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine says the law, which the government is currently sitting on is extremely important for the development of the arts and entertainment industry in Uganda.
“You need to come together and tell government that ‘if you want us to hate Kyagulanyi, our fellow artist, you pass this law.’ That is the only way you will be helped,” he advised.
The leading musician and opposition leader gave the advice at the final send-off of talented comedian and dramatist Paul Kato Lubwama in Nkozi.
The death of the 53 year old last Wednesday rekindled debate on the rights and wellbeing of artists in Uganda, with focus on the copyright law.
In July last year, Parliament granted leave to Mawokota North MP Hilary Kiyaga aka Dr Hilderman to draft the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Amendment Bill.
However, according to Bobi Wine, the government along the way, hijacked the bill from Hilderman and has since sat with it.
The bill, Bobi Wine told mourners, had been drafted with a lot of input from Nigeria, where the entertainment industry has greatly flourished over the past year.
“We asked Silver Kyagulanyi to benchmark the Nigerian copyright law; he retrieved everything that helped nigerias to prosper and put it in Hilderman’s law. But Government rushed to Hilderman and advised him that the law should be taken up with the Law Reform Commission. We’ve not heard about it since then because they wanted to use the law to play around with you, and you too are so gullible.”
Bobi Wine added that other laws which were drafted around the same time have since been passed, yet the one on copyright has been shelved.
“Museveni’s government was quick to pass Muhammad Nsereko’s law called the Computer Misuse Act but they haven’t passed Hilderman’s law.”
Kato Lubwama’s burial was graced by hundreds of local and national leaders from both the Government and the Opposition sides, family and clan members and residents. After lengthy speeches, Lubwama was finally laid to rest at around 7pm in his family’s burial ground.
