The Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, has stated that the security deployment at the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party president Robert Kyagulanyi’s home is to protect it against Ugandans from using it as a public disorder hub.
While responding to queries raised by the Leader of Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi, during the Thursday Parliament sitting, Dr Baryomunsi said the deployment is not intended to harass anybody.
“We are not interested in him [Kyagulanyi], that’s why I said he’s free to be in his home. At the moment, he’s not at home, but he’s free at the time as well as members of his family. There is light deployment at his home, not to harass anybody, but for Ugandans not to use the home as a public disorder hub,” Dr Baryomunsi said.
He added, “Therefore, there is some access control because when the head of the home is not there, you don’t want the whole crowd of Ugandans to converge there. So there’s some control, but harmless.”
Dr Baryomunsi insisted that the government is not interested in arresting Kyagulanyi, as there are no charges against him, noting that the NUP leader is free to go back to his home regardless, as he doesn’t break any law.
“He chose on his own volition to go into hiding. The state is not interested in him. Otherwise, the state would pick him from wherever he is, because we know. We have technology to trace people, but because we are not interested in him, that’s why I said he’s free to be in his home,” Dr Baryomunsi said.
The State Minister for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi, also responding to the same query in Parliament, said that Kyagulanyi’s family is not under any arrest, stating that his home is not a gazetted prison.
“First of all, a prison supposes that there are prisoners in a premise, that home is not a gazetted prison, Kyagulanyi himself is not there, so I want to state categorically clear that, that home is not a prison,” Gen Muhoozi said.
He added, “There may be inconveniences and security may have reasons for their presence there, and those ones we can iron out.”
However, he denied holding Ms Lina Zedriga and Ms Jolly Tukamushaba, both NUP deputy presidents for Northern and Western Uganda respectively, among others who are alleged to have been abducted, with their whereabouts still unknown.
“We don’t abduct, we arrest. If you breach the law, you get arrested and we can account for all those people under custody. It may delay, to be produced but we don’t abduct as a government,” Gen Muhoozi said.