Bobi Wine has endorsed Olara Otunnu’s bid to become the next United Nations Secretary-General, describing the veteran diplomat’s candidacy as a source of pride for Uganda.
In a statement issued on Thursday, August 27, 2026, the National Unity Platform president praised Otunnu’s decades of international service and his work championing vulnerable communities, particularly children caught up in armed conflict.
“As a Ugandan, it fills me with pride to see an illustrious son of our nation carry a lifetime of global service, a fierce commitment to the vulnerable, and a deep passion for justice to the world stage,” Kyagulanyi said.
Wine also backed Otunnu’s emphasis on reforming international institutions, portraying the 75-year-old former UN Under-Secretary-General as a candidate associated with integrity, peace and accountability.
Otunnu was formally nominated by Uganda on July 24, becoming the seventh candidate at the time to enter the race to succeed António Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31, 2026. The United Nations now lists him among the eight candidates competing for the position.
His résumé has become a central part of the campaign.
Between 1998 and 2005, Otunnu served as the UN’s first Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. During that period, he pushed the protection of children affected by war higher onto the international agenda and helped establish mechanisms for monitoring grave violations against children in conflict.
Long before his current campaign, Otunnu also played a role in shaping how the UN selects its Secretary-General.
While serving as Uganda’s ambassador to the United Nations and president of the Security Council in 1981, he introduced the informal straw-ballot system that became known as the “Otunnu Formula”. The same system is now being used to assess his own candidacy.
The race has already produced an unexpected political twist in Uganda.
President Yoweri Museveni formally endorsed Otunnu’s candidature in August and has mobilised diplomatic support for his campaign.
That backing has attracted attention because Otunnu was once a prominent opposition figure and had previously sought the UN job amid political differences with the government. Otunnu himself has said Museveni’s decision to nominate him came as a surprise and that he had not been plotting a campaign for the position.
Despite the political questions surrounding the nomination, Otunnu has begun to show movement in the international race.
In the second UN Security Council straw poll held on August 21, he received five “encourage” votes, up from two in the first poll. His “no opinion” tally fell from eight to five, although five members still marked “discourage.” The result placed him fifth among the eight candidates at that stage.
Otunnu also presented his vision before UN member states and civil society in New York on August 19, calling for institutional reform, stronger conflict prevention and a restoration of the organisation’s moral authority. Reuters reported that he argued the UN could not afford business as usual as it confronts growing global divisions.
For Bobi Wine, however, the issue appears to have risen above Uganda’s often bitter political divisions.
His endorsement places one of the country’s leading opposition figures behind a candidate whose UN campaign is being officially supported by the same government that has spent years at odds with him.
With the selection process still underway, Otunnu now faces the difficult task of converting growing support in the informal polls into enough backing from the Security Council to secure a recommendation to the General Assembly.
For Uganda, the campaign has already created an unusual moment: government and opposition figures are publicly backing the same Ugandan for one of the most powerful diplomatic positions in the world.