General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has been accused of orchestrating the detention of two Kenyan activists in Uganda.
Speaking after the release of human rights activists Bob Njagi and Nichola Oyoo, Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine accused Muhoozi of detaining the Kenyan nationals for 38 days.
Attributing the fresh details to a conversation with the two activists, Wine revealed that they had allegedly been held at Kasenyi military barracks, where they were questioned about their reasons for going to Uganda.
“After 39 days [sic] under incommunicado detention and torture, our Kenyan brothers Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo have been dumped at the Kenya-Uganda border at Busia by the Museveni regime. They are now headed back to Nairobi,” noted Wine.
“I have just spoken to them and they have told me that they were being held by Museveni’s son at Kasenyi military barracks! They were being interrogated about why they came to Uganda and attended our manifesto launch in Jinja!”
The two activists were released on Friday night and handed over to Kenyan authorities at the Busia border point.
The release was confirmed by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'Oei, who stated that the two had been handed over to the Kenya High Commissioner in Uganda.
“Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo are free and on Kenyan territory. Late last night, after lengthy engagements, the two were released to our High Commissioner in Uganda. They were escorted by the Ambassador and officials of the Uganda government to Busia border town and were received by Busia County Commissioner, Chaunga Mwachaunga,” Sing’Oei said in a statement on Saturday, November 8
Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi noted that their release was a result of sustained diplomatic efforts, including a formal letter personally addressed to General Odongo Jeje Abubakhar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda.
The UPDF had initially denied holding the two activists. Silas Kamanda, a colonel in the UPDF, revealing that the force had searched all its detention centres for the two Kenyans, but had not found them in court documents submitted on October 21.
Kamanda was responding to a habeas corpus court order in which the UPDF had been ordered to produce the two Kenyans, dead or alive, within seven days.
Their prolonged disappearance, allegedly at the hands of security forces, sparked diplomatic tensions amid widespread calls for their release by lobby and civil society groups across the region.
