The National Unity Platform (NUP) party leadership has repeatedly claimed that their supporters are being arrested, tortured, and abducted by security forces. This narrative prompted the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), led by Mariam Wandadya, to launch an investigation into these allegations.
The UHRC received a list of 30 missing supporters from Lewis Rubogonya, NUP’s Secretary General. Acting upon this information, the UHRC conducted its investigations and found that 12 of the individuals reported as missing by NUP had actually been arrested for suspected involvement in various offenses. And that some have since been released on police bond or court bail.
“The remaining alleged missing persons, NUP did not provide detailed information and their national identification cards, from which investigations would be carried, our investigations were completed on all the 30 persons, however we found this information provided by NUP, questionable,” Wandadya said.
In previous cases, NUP had presented victims of accidents or criminals arrested for various crimes as torture victims. Wandadya pointed out incidents such as Marions Alexanderos, who NUP claimed was raped by UPDF soldiers but presented a different account herself. Eric Mwesigwa was also presented as a torture victim, but his own testimony contradicted that. Similarly, Moses Simbwa, initially labeled as a torture victim, turned out to be an accident victim. These inconsistencies raise doubts about the credibility of NUP’s claims.
Given the allegations made by NUP and the findings of the UHRC, one must question who is deceiving whom. Is it possible that supporters of NUP have mastered the art of trickery, previously used by the party leadership for political gain, and are now employing it against the party leadership for financial gain?
According to Michael Kutosi, an arrested NUP supporter who participated in the October 5, 2023, one million march organized by the party, some supporters and journalists were detained and subsequently released. However, some supporters and journalists rushed to Bobi Wine’s residence, claiming to have been tortured by security forces.
“As one of the arrested supporters who was later released, it is astonishing to witness how many of us falsely claimed torture and abuse by security forces. Even some journalists who hadn’t been arrested lied to obtain Ugx. 100,000 from Bobi Wine, which was being dashed out to whoever claimed to be hurt” said Kutosi.
Kutosi further revealed that most supporters are motivated by financial gain rather than genuine support for the party. He believes that unless something is done about these allegations and the party leadership stops being deceived by its own supporters, no one will take NUP’s claims seriously.
