National Unity Platform (NUP) leaders continue to call for countrywide demonstrations as families cry out for their loved ones whom they say were either abducted or arrested by the security. Some of them say their people did not appear on the government list released early this month, wrote Derrick Wandera.

SOME OF THE ABDUCTEES WHO ARE STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR:

Head teacher abducted  over Museveni posters on school building
“My brother, Edward Barugahara has been a head teacher in Masindi District but when the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) came with President Museveni’s posters to pin them on the school buildings, he told him that the school is not supposed to engage in partisan politics. The DISO told him that he would face consequences after he found that the posters had been removed the following day.

Since February 12 when he was picked from Masindi town, Barugahara has been missing and we don’t know what crime he committed. We have tried to look for him but in vain. We are not sure whether he is dead or alive, and we request the government to help us and bring him back.”

Woman’s two-year search for her husband
“It is now two years since my husband, John Bosco Kibalama, was kidnapped from his workplace in town in June 2019 because he was working with NUP. We were told that policemen driving in a Toyota Wish car found him around Gayaza Road. We have been trying to engage police but they are not telling us anything. They told us that they cannot find the person and they have no way of helping us. We have given up and we are hoping that God answers our prayers and they bring him back.”

Isma Kigozi was arrested while on wife’s errand
“My husband was abducted on December 1st 2020 from Mawanda Road at 4pm and since then, we have never seen him. We don’t know whether he is dead or alive because the authorities keep tossing us from one side to another. We run a restaurant and my husband had gone to collect plates from customers but on his way, plain-clothed men wielding guns whisked him away in a “drone” (van) and fired bullets at people who tried to rescue him. Some sustained injuries in the process. We have tried to look for him in vain. Our children and the family are always getting nightmares because he was a breadwinner at home.”

Woman blames Museveni for arrest of her husband, professional boxer Ntambi
“From the time my husband was abducted by unknown people, I have tried to trace him but without any success. Different police stations and prisons keep tossing me from one place to another so I have since lost hope. I don’t know where to find him.  Our husbands have not done anything and we wonder why they were abducted.”

Brother laments arrest of sibling, Steven Sserwanga
“My brother  was arrested from his workplace in Busega, Wakiso, as he prepared to leave his chapatti stall to go home on November 21, 2020. They beat him up and threw him in a “drone” (van) and drove off. I was lucky to meet him once but after that, they took them out of where they were keeping them in Makindye military prison and I now don’t know where he was taken. To date, his whereabouts are not known and we only hear rumours that they may not be alive.

“I know him as a hardworking and focused man who didn’t deserve such kind of treatment because he has never involved himself in riots. But whatever the case, let him be produced in court so that we can get justice. We are in dismay as a family and we hope he gets justice some day if he is still alive.”

21st March 2021
Uganda Police announcement: “A task team from the Special Investigations Division arrested Guy Smith, an American national [married to a Ugandan, he has lived in Uganda for 20 years] from Fort Portal for his alleged involvement in Anti government subversive activities”.