NUP councilor abandons seat in Jinja, flees country

The Namulesa North Ward councilor in Jinja City, who belongs to the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party has abandoned his seat and fled the country, citing alleged “persecution” from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party officials.
Joseph Ngobi, 25, popularly known as Musaayi Muto, is said to have fled the country on January 26 as NRM celebrated its 38th anniversary at a function presided over by President Museveni at St John Senior Secondary School Wakitaka Playgrounds in Jinja Northern City Division.
Prior to fleeing the country, Ngobi suggested that millions of shillings allegedly being spent on the NRM celebrations should be channeled to agriculture, before dismissing the annual January 26 NRM day as “useless”.
Ngobi further accused the NRM government of deliberately creating a handful of extremely wealthy people on one hand, and those living in abject poverty on the other, and vowed to consolidate NUP gains in Busoga, which saw its presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine defeat President Museveni in the sub-region in 2021.
Barely a week before he fled the country, Ngobi alleged a plot to abduct him days after another NUP coordinator, Hassan Muyonjo (Swengere) claimed to have received similar threats.
Bobi Wine has always accused the government of intimidating, abducting, imprisoning and torturing NUP and opposition supporters.
Early this year, NUP approached the High Court to compel authorities to explain the whereabouts of its missing members, whom it alleges were abducted by security operatives in recent years.
Last month, Bobi Wine, welcomed sanctions imposed by Washington on four senior Ugandan police officers including Bob Kagarura, Elly Womanya, Alex Mwine and Hamdan Twesigye.
The sanctions were confirmed by US Department of State spokesperson, Matthew Miller, who noted that the quartet was involved in “serious human rights abuses, including torture and degrading treatment”.
According to the US Department of State, the sanctions are part of a broader effort to promote accountability for human rights violations in Uganda.
In a statement, Bobi Wine lauded the US’ decision, which he described as “a significant step toward achieving justice for victims of abuse in Uganda.”