Led by Jobless Billionaire & Sky Solijah, hundreds of leading Tik Tok-based content creators on Wednesday converged at Jevine Hotel in Rubaga and declared war on the NRM party. The bloggers said they have resorted to this because of the frustration resulting from the NRM party and government’s refusal to pay them the money they used to publicize Gen Museveni’s rallies in the whole country during the last campaigns.
They claimed they were entitled to Shs150,000 as daily facilitation for the entire campaign but ended up getting just Shs50,000. Jobless Billionaire, their leader, asserted that even the Shs50,000 was stopped mid-November. That they operated under the banner of PLU Silent Majority. They demanded to know why bloggers who were coordinated by Major Kutesa and those under Ghetto Structures got their pay yet theirs hasn’t come almost a year later.
They claimed that the big gentleman who was coordinating their group has resorted to abusing and removing them from the original WhatsApp group whenever they demand their pay. Jobless Billionaire said he is the one who coordinated and recruited Tik Tokers and it had to only be those with a big online following. He says many of them left their other work and got hated by their followers for embracing NRM which isn’t very popular among online Ugandans.
He says they had to borrow money to pay for accommodation, meals and even transport plus buying their own data after their overall coordinator assured them money was coming. They demanded to know why all the others coordinated by Maj Emma Kutesa and Afande Ddamulira of Ghetto Structures got their money plus bonuses yet for them are still grassing. He said many of them are homeless because landlords kicked them out. Some are in hiding because of debts.
Jobless Billionaire also claimed that the owner of the Drone-Noah PSV vehicle which one of the groups used to travel in has since dragged him to police because he wants his money. He said police is looking for him yet they can’t have access to any of the big men in NRM anymore. Jobless Billionaire said that whoever raises the issue is removed from the WhatsApp forum by the big man who coordinated them at the beginning. The big man was accused of threatening to arrest him.
“When you demand for the money, he tells his PA remove that Anus. He calls us Nile Perch, Bed bugs, cockroaches etc. He is an old man in his 60s yet he doesn’t like young people. He is the enemy number one for the young people. He doesn’t want young ones to come up also which is why he fights Eddie Kenzo, Gravity Omutujju, Alien Skin and others. He wants to be the only big man near the president with social media and entertainment ideas,” Jobless Billionaire said as Sky Sojah joined him in declaring the disgruntled bloggers are ready to die or even be jailed because they have nothing to live for.
“We know he call cause us to be jailed by police but we don’t care anymore. He antagonized us with all the big people who would have helped us. He told us not to show Natasha, Eddie Kenzo, Chameleon, Hajjat Madina [NRM treasurer], Richard Todwong, Nyamutoro and others in our videos during the President’s rallies. He recruited us into his wars and this reduced our audiences because Kenzo’s videos were very popular across the country.”
Jobless Billionaire claimed that he one time did a very good video of Natasha, Museveni’s daughter, who saw and liked it and reached out to say thank you to him. “Our boss didn’t like that. He abused and almost chased me away. He is an envious old man who never wanted us to get known to such big people. We know our lives can be in danger because he can use corrupt security men to arrest us. This is why we are calling on David Kabanda to connect us to the CDF so that we make our case and get protection as we prepare to market him on Tik Tok as Uganda’s next President in 2031,” Jobless Billionaire said.
They also begged Gen Salim Saleh and Natasha Karugire to come to their rescue by helping them to get paid and to also get protection against being arrested by DPCs and police OC CIDs who they feared can be compromised by their big boss to get them arrested for demanding for their money. Some of them said they regret abandoning Bobi Wine’s NUP social media group after being promised money from NRM which they have ended up not receiving. Jobless Billionaire claimed that his group of disgruntled bloggers has more 45 Tik Tokers who have millions of followers.
They rejected claims by the big NRM man who coordinated them that they don’t deserve pay because they have no written contracts. “Ebyo byakiyaye. How do you ask us for a contract when you told us this was based on a gentleman’s agreement?” Sky Sojah ranted. The bloggers vowed to relentlessly destroy NRM and Museveni on social media unless their money is paid. They claimed their claim is in 100s of millions. Sky Sojah said he regrets opposing Jobless Billionaire when he proposed they drop out and abandon Museveni’s campaign trail during the Western Uganda leg before candidate Museveni started on Buganda and other remaining parts of Uganda.
They apologized to Eddie Kenzo, Richard Todwong and Hajjat Madina who they blacklisted and denied publicity in their videos during the campaign trail because this was on the strict instructions of their big boss who had recruited them. “We were misled because as Secretary General you are a very big man in the ruling party,” the bloggers specifically apologized to Todwong.
They called on Gen Saleh and MK to demonstrate love for the young people by helping them scare corrupt OC CIDs and DPCs at the Kampala police stations from locking them up and also by taking them to the President so that their facilitation arrears can be paid. They claimed that Museveni released Shs5bn and directed each one of them gets Shs80m but this never happened because someone else ate all the money alone.
Claiming to have a google analytics report showing the actual number of people their pro-Museveni campaign videos reached on Tik Tok, the group members listed some of the platforms they used to include Jobless Billionaire, Sky Sojah, Kawato Media, Ug daily, Yasin Media, Lydia Bukedde, Director Eric, Justine Jussy, Sempijja Omudiribada, Amooti, Shawn Media Ssenkayi Media and Jobless Billionaire.
They claimed some of these Tik Tok platforms were entitled to Shs300,000 per day because their followers are millions yet in the end, not even a half of that money was never paid to them. They requested for a meeting with David Kabanda of PLU promising to once again come together and constitute themselves into the Bachwezi Army to amplify messaging for Gen MK’s 2031 bid for Presidency.
They advised Gen MK’s man David Kabanda to avoid working with envious old men, like their boss, in Uganda’s entertainment industry saying it’s better for the MK media strategy to be coordinated by a young person who is a selfless and committed blogger as opposed to just making money. They claimed that their big boss showed his selfishness when he refused to pay one of their colleague who lost his mum in the middle of campaign yet gave out Shs500,000 to a drunken Museveni supporter who danced well at the subsequent rally.
“He told our grieving friend to wait because there was no money but to our surprise he donated Shs500,000 to a supporter who danced well at the next Museveni rally hours later,” Jobless Billionaire explained making it clear he regrets ever getting involved in doing what he did for the Museveni campaign.
But some Ugandans operating online castigated the bloggers and advised them to reorganize themselves and become polished if anyone is going to ever deal with them.
“It’s not enough to just have high number of followers. You must be well behaved and show your decency otherwise no one is going to ever trust and deal with you again if that’s how you declare war and turn against big men who helped to lift you from obscurity. Even Kabanda and Gen MK can’t take you seriously if you show it’s all about money and nothing else,” one follower commented under a Tik Tok live as the bloggers’ ranting press conference raged.
Another social media user advised them to find something more meaningful to do as opposed to taking blogging and content creation to be their only job and source of income.
Some social media users advised the big man they demonized to consider taking them to court under civil defamation as opposed to using the police because that will portray him as abusively using his connections in government to persecute poor people’s children. This could turn the disgruntled bloggers into heroes as the public will see them as victims of persecution.
The boys said they are ready to die in prison but won’t keep quiet until their money is paid. Some threatened to pour themselves at police and demonstrate in case any of them gets arrested for demanding to be paid. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com.
