PLU’s Lumbuye Hunt Flops: The Man They Targeted Is Now Laughing.

What was supposed to be a grand political demonstration against Fred Kajubi Lumbuye has instead turned into a spectacular public-relations embarrassment for Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s Patriotic League of Uganda — and Lumbuye himself appears to be enjoying every minute of it. The PLU marched to the Turkish Embassy in Kampala demanding that Turkey hand over Lumbuye to Uganda. But somewhere along the way, the supposed “Lumbuye operation” began looking less like a serious campaign against their target and more like a campaign rally for Muhoozi’s political ambitions. Instead of making Lumbuye the centre of the spectacle, the demonstrators were carrying placards promoting Muhoozi. The very man they had supposedly gone to Turkey’s embassy to demand was suddenly looking like a spectator at his own attempted political takedown. And Lumbuye? Rather than panic, he joined the laughter. He mocked the procession and, in what made the whole episode even more embarrassing for his opponents, began advising the PLU on how they could supposedly do a better job of targeting him. That is when the script completely flipped. The people who had marched to put pressure on Lumbuye became the people being laughed at by Lumbuye. And Ugandans online took the opportunity to turn the entire spectacle into comedy, producing skits and jokes about a demonstration that was supposed to project strength but ended up generating ridicule. The irony is difficult to miss. You organise a demonstration against a blogger. You march to an embassy. You demand his extradition. You spend days mobilizing for the event. And when the day finally arrives, the man you are targeting is sitting somewhere laughing, responding to you and even giving you unsolicited advice on how to target him more effectively. That is quite a reversal. The PLU insists the demonstration was successful and has threatened a larger protest if Turkey does not respond to its demands. But whatever the organizers intended the demonstration to communicate, the reaction online has become a story of its own. The real question now is: Did PLU march to Turkey to bring Lumbuye back to Uganda, or did they accidentally give Lumbuye another day of free publicity? The answer is the latter.