The National Unity Platform (NUP) Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya has refuted the “unlawful drilling” charges placed against the party Deputy spokesperson Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro noting that the accused never stepped foot at the NUP headquarters on the said day.
In a statement on his X on Thursday, Rubongoya insisted that the accusations are politically motivated and aimed at weakening the party ahead next year’s elections and anyone who believes that the abductions and illegal arrests of NUP members are a result of the said February ‘parade’ are very unserious people.
“For the record, Waiswa never stepped at Kavule on 12th February. He was at the hospital with his wife. He was never at any gathering at Kavule” he noted.
Rubongoya added, “But the criminal regime now charges him with “unlawful drilling on 12th February at Kavule”. Let Kulayigye and his ilk produce any picture or video of Waiswa at that event (which was not illegal, in any case)”.
According to Rubongoya, government is using the arrests to clamp down on the opposition and further dismissed the charges, saying they are not backed by evidence.
“The criminals are simply looking for any excuse to clamp down, and all logical people must see it for what it is. #FreeUganda” Rubongoya noted.
On Wednesday, Kawempe Grade One Magistrate Damalie Agumaasiimwe charged and remanded Mufumbiro and staunch NUP supporter Sauda Madada to Luzira prison over an alleged military parade held at NUP headquarters in February this year.
Mufumbiro was abducted by security personnel at Kawempe court premises on Monday and bundled into a waiting Noah Car while Sauda Madada was arrested in Busia district.
Mufumbiro is vying for the Nakawa East MP while Sauda Madada is vying for the Kampala woman Lord Councillor seat as an independent after losing out on the NUP ticket.
The duo who were remanded on Wednesday over the charges join seven other NUP members remanded by the same court over similar charges bringing the number to nine.
The seven include; Edward Ssebufu alias Eddie Mutwe , Achielo Kivumbi, Tasi Calvin aka Bobi Giant , Serunkuuma Edwin aka Eddie King Kabenja, Lukenge Sharif, Nyanzi Yasin and Kaweesi Tonny.
During the Wednesday hearing, state Attorney Sharon Nambuya told court that on February 12, 2025, at the Makerere-Kavule NUP offices in, the seven, together with others still at large, attended a meeting or assembly of persons held without the permission of the Minister.
She said that the gathering was allegedly aimed at training or drilling participants in military exercises, movements, and evolutions, contrary to Section 45(1)(b) of the Penal Code Act.
When it came to the bail application of the accused, she opposed it stating that they were not ready to respond to it since they needed more time, a request which was granted by Ms Agumaasiimwe who remanded the duo until 29th December in Luzira Prison.
The UPDF spokesperson Maj. Gen. Felix Kulayigye while addressing media this week defended the arrests.
“There are no abductions carried out by the State; the State arrests, it does not abduct, anyone who participated in the illegal parade at the NUP Headquarters in Makerere, Kavule, will be brought before court. That is why those individuals have been apprehended” Kulaigye said.
