Uganda: Altered Image Used to Show Ugandan Opposition Leader Bobi Wine Campaigning On Boat 'Donated' By President Museveni

15 January 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

Altered image used to show Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine campaigning on boat 'donated' by president Museveni

IN SHORT: An image of Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine campaigning on a boat allegedly donated by president Yoweri Museveni is gaining attention online. The image, however, has been altered.

Uganda is set to hold elections on 15 January 2026.

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President Yoweri Museveni and his main challenger, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, are among eight candidates set to face off in the elections. Candidates concluded their campaigns on 13 January.

As voting day approaches, an image of Bobi Wine campaigning on a boat apparently donated by Museveni has sparked mixed reactions online.

It shows him in a life jacket, gesturing. The text on the boat reads: "DONATED BY; HE. GEN YOWERI MUSEVENI THE PRESIDENT OF UGANDA."

Users who posted the image found it ironic that Bobi Wine, a staunch critic of Museveni and his administration, would use a boat donated by the president.

Bobi Wine leads the National Unity Platform party. Museveni is the leader of the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

Since 2017, Bobi Wine has been arrested on multiple occasions while his campaigns have been disrupted by security forces, actions his supporters and human rights groups have described as evidence of political persecution.

But is the image authentic? We checked.

Altered image

Africa Check closely examined the image and noted that it also featured the logo of "Apple Lenz". We searched for it online and found a Facebook page with the same name. The page promotes Bobi Wine and his political campaigns and has posted photos featuring the same logo.

The page posted the photo used in the claim, along with others, on 24 December 2025. The original photo does not include the donation text; it leaves that part of the boat blank.

Bobi Wine and his party posted similar photos and explained that he was in Kalangala, a district in central Uganda.

The image circulating online has been altered to suggest that the boat Bobi Wine used was donated by president Museveni.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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