The opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) is mourning yet another tragic loss following the death of Sarah Nantumbwe Ddamulira, the wife of missing opposition supporter John Ddamulira.
Nantumbwe’s passing on Saturday, June 13, 2026, marks a painful chapter for families of missing persons in Uganda. She spent her final five years desperately searching for her husband, who was abducted by security operatives from his shop at Kisekka Market in 2020.
Nantumbwe’s death mirrors the tragic demise of Monica Nabukenya Kibalama, who died in November 2025. Nabukenya was the wife of another missing NUP supporter, John Bosco Kibalama, an accountant who vanished on June 3, 2019. Top NUP leadership expressed profound heartbreak over Nantumbwe’s death, emphasizing the heavy psychological toll inflicted on families of the disappeared.
“Like other family members of those disappeared, Sarah has spent the last five years moving everywhere looking for her husband. It is most painful that she has passed on without finding any answers. Kitalo nnyo (How sad),” announced NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya. The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, revealed that Nantumbwe had a premonition of her death during a recent hospital visit.
“She shared with us her feeling that her life was nearing its end, but she was deeply pained by the possibility of leaving without knowing what happened to her husband,” Ssenyonyi said. “Her children are now left without a father and mother. May God see it fit that justice be served to families like Sarah’s.”
The trauma confronting these families was previously highlighted by the mysterious death of Monica Nabukenya Kibalama. Nabukenya was found dead in her bathtub by her children at their home in Seeta Village, Kasangati Town Council.
At the time, Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango stated that an initial autopsy at the City Mortuary was inconclusive, forcing police to dispatch samples to the Government Analytical Laboratory. Before her death, neighbours reported that Nabukenya was under immense emotional distress, facing property disputes with her husband’s relatives and carrying severe security fears that prompted her to install CCTV cameras. Her mother, Joyce Mwetise, noted that Nabukenya had developed diabetes and high blood pressure following her husband’s disappearance.
John Bosco Kibalama, who had defected from the ruling NRM to join Robert Kyagulanyi’s People Power movement (now NUP), was forced into a Toyota Hiace ‘drone’ van by armed men on Lumumba Avenue. His vehicle was found abandoned on the Gayaza-Kampala road.
In a twist of events in 2023, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja claimed in Parliament that Kibalama was in government custody over murders in Luweero District, a statement she later retracted under intense pressure from the opposition. Nantumbwe’s death occurs against a backdrop of mixed developments regarding state-engineered disappearances. Just a day prior, on June 12, 2026, the Amuria District Woman Member of Parliament, Margaret Etilu, was released. MP Etilu had been missing for weeks after being picked up by security operatives, sparking nationwide outrage.
While Etilu’s safe return brought brief relief to the political landscape, it stands in stark contrast to the fate of ordinary citizens. NUP maintains a list of at least 18 prominent members who have been missing for years across Kampala and other parts of Uganda.
NUP President Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, previously lamented the heavy burden placed on these families, stating that it remains deeply painful for young children to be left entirely helpless while the state continues to withhold answers regarding their fathers’ whereabouts.