By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A Ugandan university student who has been missing under controversial circumstances for two months after posting an uncomplimentary TikTok video against President Yoweri Museveni’s government, has been jailed.
Elson Tumwine’s sudden disappearance on 8 June attracted widespread criticism from opposition figures and activists, who alleged that he had been abducted and illegally detained by security officials.
Arising from public outcry over his disappearance, report emerged that he was left at a police station in Entebbe in mid-July and was subsequently charged with “offensive communication” and computer misuse.
He pleaded guilty and asked for leniency. The magistrate court in Entebbe sentenced him to two months in jail on Monday, citing his pleas for mercy.
Tumwine’s sentencing and alleged abduction have raised concerns among human rights activists over right of citizens to free speech as the East African country gears for presidential election next year.
Museveni who has ruled the country for nearly 40 years is seeking a fresh term in office, which will effectively extend his four decades rule.
In court, the third-year Makerere University undergraduate admitted to posting the video that prosecutors said was intended “to ridicule, demean and incite hostility”.
He is alleged to have doctored a clip of the parliamentary speaker’s response to a general apology Museveni issued in May to the Baganda people, Uganda’s largest ethnic group and who form the traditional Buganda kingdom.
Tumwine’s TikTok post accused the 80-year-old President of not apologising for other things during his time in power.
When Tumwine’s disappeared in June, Makerere University issued an urgent appeal for information that could help find him.
He had been working as an agricultural intern in Hoima, western Uganda, as part of his studies at the time he went missing.
Two weeks ago, the secretary-general of opposition NUP party David Lewis Rubongoya said they had information that Tumwine and another suspect were being held at a police station in Entebbe – having being “dumped” there on 13 July.
