Kampala, Uganda | URN | The Secretary General of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, says party president Erias Lukwago was scheduled to serve court papers on the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, before his alleged abduction from his home in Wakaliga, Kampala.
Speaking to Uganda Radio Network in an interview before a press conference at the party headquarters in Kampala, Ssemujju said Dr Kizza Besigye had filed several applications before the High Court over alleged violations of his rights. One of the cases challenging Besigye’s alleged abduction from Nairobi, Kenya, on November 16, 2024, had been scheduled for a hearing on June 30 by Justice Emmanuel Baguma.
“Dr Besigye wants the court to deal with Muhoozi Kainerugaba and two other soldiers. They are the ones who kidnapped him from Kenya. Lukwago, as one of Besigye’s lawyers of Besigye, was saying this morning that he was going to look for Muhoozi Kainerugaba at his known office to serve him. So, we have every reason to believe that Muhoozi is the one who has ordered the kidnapping of Lukwago. These soldiers who kidnapped him were in full military uniform,” Ssemujju said.
He added that the party does not know where Lukwago has been taken because his phones were taken away from him. “We don’t know what they have done to him or where they have taken him. There is a deteriorating rule of law in the country. Even the military must have procedures, and you don’t just jump into people’s homes and kidnap them. The breakdown of the rule of law is at its lowest,” Ssemujju said.
In a post on X, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba said Lukwago had been taken to the “basement”, a term critics have previously associated with alleged safe houses where opponents are reportedly tortured. Earlier on Wednesday morning, soldiers wearing UPDF uniforms reportedly stormed Lukwago’s home in Wakaliga, Kampala, and surrounded the premises. They later jumped over the fence and forced their way into the house.
According to Ssemujju, the soldiers ordered Lukwago out of his bedroom and bundled him into a waiting Toyota Hiace vehicle commonly referred to as a “drone”. He said Lukwago was not informed why he was being arrested or where he was being taken. “The way he has been grabbed, no procedures have been followed; those who came to pick him were like all kidnappers; they have not identified themselves because if they are law enforcement officers, the procedures in the constitution and all the relevant acts of parliament are that you introduce yourself and state the reason you are picking someone. His family is terrified; I’ve just spoken to them,” Ssemujju said.
Lukwago is one of the lawyers representing Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obeid Lutale in the treason and misprision of treason case against them. The two were allegedly abducted from Kenya and later charged before the military court. Following the disbanding of the Court Martial, Besigye’s case was transferred to the High Court and assigned to Justice Emmanuel Baguma. Since then, the case has made little progress. Last week, the hearing was scheduled to begin, but stalled after Besigye and Lutale failed to appear in court.
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