By Enyichukwu Enemanna
An official of Uganda’s largest opposition party, National Unity Platform (NUP) was on Monday arrested near a court while attending his colleagues bail hearing, an MP from the party and police spokesperson confirmed.
Alex Mufumbiro, the deputy spokesperson of Bobi Wine’s NUP was forced into a vehicle just outside a magistrate’s court in the capital Kampala, Joel Ssenyonyi, the leader of the opposition in parliament said.
Similarly, police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told reporters that Mufumbiro was detained but did not disclose reason for his arrest or when he will be charged to court.
NUP and other opposition parties have in recent times decried what they say is a campaign of abductions and torture of opposition officials by security forces ahead of the January 2026 presidential election.
The police and the military have however denied targeting the opposition and say that only suspects in criminal cases are detained. They have also rejected accusations of mistreatment of opposition figures.
The lawmaker said that Mufumbiro had gone to court on Monday to attend a bail hearing for NUP members who have been in detention for months over what the party has called politically motivated charges.
He was “violently grabbed and pushed” into a minivan, Ssenyonyi said in a post on X, accusing President Yoweri Museveni’s government of “cowardice and criminality”.
One of those whose bail hearing was being held on Monday was opposition activist Eddie Mutwe.
In May, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the head of the military who is also Museveni’s son, said on X that he was holding Mutwe in his basement, after the activist had been missing for days.
