The Vice President, Maj (Rtd) Jessica Alupo, has assured Parliament that the detained Amuria District Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Margaret ‘Maggie’ Etilu, will be released by the close of this week to resume her legislative duties.
Ms Alupo made the revelation during a heated plenary sitting on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, chaired by Speaker Jacob Oboth-Oboth. The government’s intervention followed intense pressure from the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, who demanded a formal explanation regarding the whereabouts of the newly sworn-in legislator and other citizens who have gone missing under unclear circumstances.
‘Where is the Member?’ Mr. Ssenyonyi demanded. ‘If she has committed any offense… why is she not produced in court? Where is she being held?’
The LoP also pressed the government over the fate of Christopher Godi (alias King Zale), a National Unity Platform (NUP) mobiliser who was reportedly picked up by the military from Kamwokya on April 21, 2026, and remains missing.
Responding to the opposition’s concerns, Ms Alupo, who referred to Ms Etilu as her “daughter,” confirmed that the legislator is safe, healthy, and in the custody of law enforcement. She revealed that discrete diplomatic efforts had been underway to resolve the matter behind closed doors.
‘She has met some of her family members. She is safe. She is healthy and will be joining us soon,’ Ms Alupo informed the House. ‘We have been speaking to the law enforcement officers, police on phone. Some of them we have met them physically. We did not want to involve cameras. From the messages that we have received… the assurance is that she will be joining us anytime this week.’
Ms Alupo acknowledged that the situation was of grave concern to all lawmakers, irrespective of political affiliation, noting that Ms Etilu’s detention “affects all of us as members of Parliament, as leaders, as Ugandans.”
She suggested that the Attorney General would clarify the legal procedures surrounding the detention at an appropriate time.
A dark legal vacuum
Ms Etilu, a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), has not been seen publicly since May 23, 2026. She reportedly vanished shortly after leaving the Kampala residence of the former Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Annet Among. Her disappearance came amid widening security investigations involving Ms. Among’s political associates.
Her continuous detention without trial has raised serious constitutional questions. Article 23 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda mandates that any arrested person must be produced before a competent court of law within 48 hours. By the time of the VP’s statement, Ms Etilu had been held incommunicado for over two weeks.
Echoes of past disappearances
The debate in the August House quickly pivoted to the broader, thorny issue of enforced disappearances and the state’s use of unaccountable detentions. Ms Alupo herself recalled that the issue of missing persons has plagued successive Parliaments, explicitly citing the long-standing case of John Bosco Kibalama.
Mr Kibalama, a prominent NUP supporter, went missing in June 2019 after his vehicle was found abandoned along the Kampala-Gayaza road. Despite years of persistent demands from opposition leaders and civil rights groups, his whereabouts remain unknown, and the state has never fully accounted for his disappearance.
The debate also mirrors the high-profile case of Sam Mugumya, a former aide to opposition icon Dr. Kizza Besigye.
Lawmakers noted that Ms Etilu’s case follows a familiar, worrying pattern. Only recently, newly sworn-in MP Justine Nameere was reportedly arrested under similarly opaque circumstances. Furthermore, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) only acknowledged holding Rev. Fr. Deusdedit Ssekabira over alleged subversive activities days after he had been picked up by unidentified armed operatives in unmarked vehicles colloquially known as “drones.”
Security minister directed to report
To address the recurring crisis of missing persons, Ms Alupo requested the Leader of the Opposition to allow the security apparatus time to compile a comprehensive brief. She requested that the Minister for Security return to the House next week with a formal, definitive statement addressing the specific names raised by the opposition, including Mr. Christopher Godi and past cases.
‘Every time that matter would come up, we would agree that it is not a flimsy matter. It is a matter that should be presented to this House in black and white,’ the Vice President submitted.
For a 12th Parliament still finding its footing, the high-profile detention of a sitting NRM legislator, alongside the unresolved disappearances of opposition activists, is being viewed by political analysts as an early acid test of the House’s independence and its capacity to hold state security organs accountable to the rule of law.