Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi

Fears for the life of outgoing Butambala County MP Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi have intensified after he was charged with terrorism and remanded to Kitalya Prison, a move that has unsettled opposition leaders and sharpened political anxiety across the country.

Kivumbi, who also serves as the National Unity Platform (NUP) Vice President for Buganda, appeared on Friday before the Butambala Chief Magistrate’s Court. Chief Magistrate Deogratius Ssejjemba ordered that he remain in custody as investigations continue.

The court briefly adjourned for an hour to allow Kivumbi to consult his lawyers. When proceedings resumed, the magistrate upheld the prosecution’s request for remand, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Racheal Bikhole told the court that Kivumbi and several suspects still at large are accused of carrying out acts aimed at intimidating the Government of Uganda and the public for political purposes.

The prosecution said the alleged offences occurred between Nov. 11 and 17, 2025, in the Kibibi and Gombe areas of Butambala District. Prosecution claim the suspects had planned coordinated attacks targeting Kibibi and Butambala police stations, as well as offices of the Electoral Commission within the district.

Kivumbi was arrested in a dawn operation on Jan. 22, intercepted as he drove out of his home before 7 a.m. The operation left his family and the public fearful over what might follow.

Kivumbi’s wife, Zahara Nampewo described the raid as harrowing. Armed operatives stormed their home, entered the bedroom, and seized documents, including the MP’s passport.

She hopes that President Yoweri Museveni could prevail on the matter and change his stance after fierce remarks he made on her husband in his victory speech at his country home in Rwakitura, eestern Uganda.

The arrest of the renowned legislator was done after the President singled him out in his election victory speech and used words like “terrorists” while referring to Kivumbi. Museveni made the comments following an incident in Butambala where police shot and killed ten people during an election scuffle.

Appearing on camera after the fateful night, Kivumbi explained that police shot people in his home and that they were also looking for him. He added that the police fired several rounds for about fifteen minutes.

“You would think Kenya had attacked Uganda,” Kivumbi narrated and added that several others were arrested and whisked off to unidentified locations. “It was a combination of military, commandos and local actors,” he said.

According to other reports, Kivumbi had organised a team to collect DR forms and monitor election proceedings for his reelection bid as happens in other constituencies. He lost the election to Eriasa Mukiibi, an independent candidate.

On the evening of voting day, police in the area reportedly stormed the venue where Kivumbi’s polling agents were gathered and in a confrontation, fired off gunshots killing people on the spot.

Security has its own narrative saying the agents attacked police officers which has sowed confusion and inflamed tensions days after a highly divisive election. Now there are fears from the public over what it means for the outspoken MP who is also a deputy president of the National Unity Platform (NUP), the opposition party that took on NRM in the just concluded elections.

NUP President Bobi Wine and his three deputies. All the deputies have since been arrested.

The president of the NUP, Robert Kyagulanyi, has been in hiding since the election. In Twitter posts, Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has vowed to kill Kyagulanyi. Muhoozi has also put out posts saying his forces “have killed 30 NUP terrorists.”

Muhoozi, the President’s son and potential successor,claimed he has barred Kyagulanyi from participating in future elections.

President Museveni, who first took power as a rebel leader in 1986, will have served 45 years by the end of his next term in 2031, and Uganda has yet to experience a peaceful transfer of presidential authority since independence.

Meanwhile, NUP’s two other deputy presidents—Lina Zedriga, responsible for the northern region, and Jolly Tukamushaba, overseeing the western region—have also been detained by security forces during the elections, and their current whereabouts remain unknown.

Kivumbi has received support from several members of the opposition like Winnie Kiiza, former Leader of Opposition.“The arrest of the Hon. Muwanga Kivumbi is a repeat of a dirty script targeting solid regime critics, and this is how; they paint you as an enemy of your people, attack them, then spin the narrative through the media until it’s believable, on purpose of isolating you by denying you public support, which is usually the only strength you have,” she said in a post on X.

“Next, they arrest you on trumped up charges, and few or none will believe you’re innocent. All this is an effort to eliminate regime critics under the guise of ‘protecting the people’. The Baganda would call it, ‘okumusibako amatu gambuzi kumulisa ngo’.

Kiiza, a member of the Alliance for National Transformation, a party started by Mugisha Muntu said Kivumbi’s case is a similar script that has played out in Kasese, Kampala, Masaka, and now Butambala.

“Hon. Kivumbi isn’t a criminal, he’s another target of the state’s dirty politics, which is unfortunate and unacceptable,” she said.

Ssegirinya memories

The main cause of anxiety surrounding Kivumbi’s detention is triggered by what happened to former Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya who was arrested in 2021, tortured in jail and died in Jan 2025 in what was one of the most painful moments of political persecution in Uganda. Ssegirinya was arrested and charged with murder together with outgoing Makindye West MP Allan Ssewanyana.

Ssegirinya spent the better part of his parliamentary term in jail and hospital. When he was released, he was hospitalised for the horrendous torture he endured at the hands of state agents in over two years in state custody.

The diminutive and jocular first term MP rose to fame as a KCCA councillor who championed his people’s interests. When he was a councillor, he often staged protests at parliament over corruption garnering the attention of journalists.

Ssegirinya, like Kivumbi, was also a member of the NUP. History could now repeat itself with Kivumbi who has been in parliament for three terms. A former member of Uganda’s oldest party, Democratic Party, Kivumbi crossed to NUP in 2020 after the latter emerged as a forceful political movement. Several other DP stalwarts like Betty Nambooze, Medard Ssegona, Mathias Mpuuga crossed.

Kivumbi was a member of the Uganda Young Democrats, the youth wing of the DP, that groomed vibrant and eloquent debaters back in the 2000s. He was first elected to parliament in 2013 during a bye-election. He was appointed shadow minister for internal affairs.

Kivumbi made his name as a vocal legislator with an incredible grasp of security matters when he was a member of Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee—a key standing committee that scrutinizes legislation, budgets, and policy for defence, security (police, immigration), and internal security matters—-overseeing bodies like the Ministry of Defence, Police, Prisons, and other security agencies.

He often threw tough questions at former police chief Gen Kale Kayihura, army bosses and Ministry of Defence officials when they appeared before the committee. Kivumbi is known as an articulate, knowledgeable and fearless lawmaker.

NUP deputy president for northern Uganda Dr Lina Zedriga, and below, NUP deputy president for western Uganda Jolly Tukamushaba

Silencing critics

The arrest of Kivumbi follows a trend where the state has jailed political opponents and denied them bail. Opposition doyen Dr Kizza Besigye has now been jailed for more than a year and his medical condition is reported to be critical. Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima said the Commissioner of Prisons has denied Besigye access to a fully equipped medical facility, restricting him to a personal doctor.

Besigye was arrested in November 2024 and charged alongside Obeid Lutale, a political associate, on what critics call trumped up treason charges.

Last November, over 100 supporters of NUP were jailed after their arrest in Mbarara en route to a rally by NUP presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi. Olivia Lutaaya, who spent four years in military detention while facing charges at the General Court Martial, was one of those arrested in the Mbarara incident and she was charged with “unlawful drilling.” Lutaaya was denied bail at a recent hearing.

Sarah Bireete, director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance, was arrested and charged with unlawfully obtaining personal data in January. She has been denied bail by Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court.

Father Deus Ssekabira, a priest in Masaka, was arrested and detained in December over unclear issues. President Museveni also spoke at length on the priest saying he was involved in subservice activities raising fears on whether he could face a fair trial.

NUP Secretary General David Rubongoya told journalists that over 450 supporters of the party have been jailed since election campaigns kicked off late last year. The arrest of Kivumbi happened amid a state clampdown on the opposition.

In Luweero, 36 youths were arrested and remanded to jail till Feb 3. They are charged with rioting but like those arrested in connection with political activities, the jury is out on whether they will get bail.

NUP lawyer Jonathan Elotu appealed to lawyers to assist with legal work and dealing with police for all those arrested unlawfully.

Activist Agather Atuhaire and Founder of Agora Discourse, a digital public square, says scores were killed in Bulenga by security forces after the Electoral Commission declared Museveni as the winner of the Jan 15 presidential election.

In a Twitter space she hosted dubbed “Last Week’s Election: what I witnessed” on Jan. 22, the same day Kivumbi was picked up by armed men, Atuhaire said it is hard to put to a number those who were arrested, brutalised and killed in Bulenga.

Kivumbi’s famous petition

On May 27, 2008, Kivumbi won a landmark case at the Constitutional Court; Muwanga Kivumbi v. Attorney General (Constitutional Petition No. 9 of 2005) regarding freedom of assembly, association, and speech. In the petition, Kivumbi challenged Section 32(2) of the Police Act, which empowered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to prohibit public assemblies or processions.

The Constitutional Court ruled (in a 3-2 decision) that Section 32(2) of the Police Act was unconstitutional, null, and void. The court found that the powers given to the police were prohibitive rather than regulatory, were open-ended without duration, and constituted an unjustified limitation on fundamental rights of assembly and expression under Article 29(1)(d) of the Constitution.

The ruling affirmed that freedom of assembly is a right, not a privilege granted by the state. The decision was a significant victory for opposition, civic, and human rights groups, as it limited the police’s ability to arbitrarily stop political rallies and demonstrations.

This was in the early days of the era of military politics when demonstrations had not yet become a mainstay of the opposition. At the time he filed the petition, Kivumbi was a member of the pressure group Popular Resistance Against Life Presidency that campaigned against the lifting of presidential term limits.