Nicholas Opiyo, human rights lawyer: Ugandans want change
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
‘All they have seen is a 40-year rule that has resulted in high unemployment rates, poor services, and an increased violation of human rights. This young population is yearning to see a different president, a different kind of Uganda.’
Catherine Byaruhanga speaks to human rights lawyer and activist Nicholas Opiyo about Ugandan politics, the rule of law, and the impact of 40 years of one leader on the nation.
He’s taken on multiple cases of national significance, including successfully overturning the country’s anti-LGBTQ legislation back in 2014 - although this has since been re-instated, and represented a former rebel commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Opiyo has also represented Ugandan opposition politician Bobi Wine, who, despite previously being arrested and charged with treason in 2018, challenged the 81-year-old incumbent President Yoweri Museveni in January’s disputed elections.
These elections were watched from afar by Opiyo, who was recently forced to flee his home country for his own safety, but still continues his human rights work. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, Botswana’s President Duma Boko, and Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Foreign Minister of Egypt. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Catherine Byaruhanga Producers: Clare Williamson, Ben Cooper and Farhana Haider Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Nicholas Opiyo. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Hello, I'm Catherine Beara Hanga, BBC presenter and correspondent, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service, the best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:24.2 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:28.9 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:32.4 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:35.1 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people |
| 0:38.1 | treat me like I'm not. We're more popular than populism. For this interview, I met Nicholas Opeo, |
| 0:46.3 | the Ugandan lawyer and human rights activists. Opeo, as he prefers to be known, survived the |
| 0:52.9 | civil war in northern Uganda to become one of the |
| 0:55.8 | country's top legal professionals. He's taken on multiple cases of national significance, |
| 1:03.2 | including successfully overturning the country's anti-LGBQ legislation back in 2014, |
| 1:15.1 | although this has since been reinstated and represented a former rebel commander of the Lord's Resistance Army. Opieo has also represented Ugandan opposition |
| 1:21.5 | politician Bobby Wine, who despite previously being arrested and charged with treason in 2018, |
| 1:28.8 | challenged the 8 to 1-year-old incumbent President Yorari Museveni in January's |
| 1:34.1 | disputed elections. These were watched from afar by Opio, who was recently forced to flee his |
| 1:41.3 | home country for his own safety, but still continues his human rights work. |
| 1:47.2 | You're going to hear about Moseveni's 40-year rule over Uganda and how it has shaped the nation |
| 1:54.0 | and what it means for a proud Ugandan like Opio to be excluded from taking part in his country's democratic process. |
| 2:04.0 | The first 20 years of Moseveni was marked with rebellion and bloodshed. |
| 2:08.7 | And the second 20 years really has been fairly peaceful. |
| 2:13.2 | In terms of active war, there is no active rebellion. |
| 2:16.2 | And we've got to give him credit for that. |
... |
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