Bobi Wine's Deputy to Focus on Building Grassroots Support
On Wednesday, presidential aspirant, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine unveiled Lina Zedriga Waru Abuka as the deputy leader of the People Power movement – a political pressure group opposed to President Yoweri Museveni’s more than three-decade-rule.
A renowned activist with the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), a World Bank accredited mediator and a former Magistrate, Dr. Zedriga hopes to use her experience in community mobilization to mobilise political support for the pressure group.
She says that her focus will be on redefining political engagement from cash transactions to transformation through humanity, by touching people’s hearts with the truth and a direction that they can all value.
“My heart is about the grassroots, organizing and putting power in the hands of the people. Even before [joining] people power, I had already retired as a judicial officer, and was organizing women around peace and security so that they feel that their dignity and destiny is in their hands,” Zedriga said.
Through her works, Zedriga has been at the forefront of campaigns against gender-based violence and social exclusion.
Zedriga says her role will be to conduct political mobilisation for People Power and ensuring that the People Power idea is understood by everyone.
“I want to make sure that the spirit of the People Power movement is well articulated and preached everywhere so that everybody understands the aspirations of the movement. Its political agenda is beyond the ghettos,” she said.
She sees her appointment as a great opportunity but also an uphill task given the enthusiasm and hope the young generation has in the People Power movement.
Zedriga holds a doctorate from the University of the South (Sewanee), a Master of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies, Master of Arts in Human Rights, Bachelor of Laws LL.B and Certificate of Laws all from Makerere University.
In 2016, Zedriga contested under the Democratic Party ticket for Vurra County in Arua district but lost to the current State Minister for Finance in charge of General duties Gabriel Ajedra.
