When Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, aka Bobi Wine, arrived in Mbarara City on November 7, thousands of supporters flooded the Mbarara High School playground to receive him-forcing his campaign team to change venues for the day. The first rally was held inside Mbarara City instead of Rubindi in Mbarara District, where supporters had also gathered in large numbers. Soon after leaving the city for Rubindi on the Mbarara-Ibanda road, Mr Kyagulanyi’s convoy ran into a heavy and unusually layered security deployment near Bwizibwera.
What followed, eyewitnesses and party officials say, was a sweeping police ambush that resulted in the arrest of dozens of his supporters. An eyewitness claimed the first group of security personnel waved the convoy through-only for a second, a more fortified contingent to block and isolate supporters’ vehicles further ahead. ‘They created a way for the cars carrying the supporters, but a few kilometres later, another deployment stopped them. They started pulling people out, beating and arresting them,’ the eyewitness recounted.
Mr Kyagulanyi himself attempted to engage the officer commanding the operation, but was told only that the supporters had ‘committed crimes’-with no explanation of what those crimes were. For four days, relatives, lawyers, and even medical volunteers were denied access to the detainees held at Mbarara Central Police Station. Mr Joshua Tumukunde, the head of NUP’s legal team, told Daily Monitor that police blocked all efforts to verify the number of those arrested or their condition.
‘Parents, advocates, doctors wanting to take food or medicine were blocked,’ Mr Tumukunde said. Only on November 11-after anguished relatives stormed the police station-were the detainees produced in court. But what transpired next added another layer of frustration. The suspects first appeared before Grade One Magistrate Esther Bagala, who was representing Chief Magistrate Andrew Kabombo.
Ms Bagala declined to handle the matter fully due to her temporary role but proceeded to rule on three bail applications, granting some suspects freedom.
The rest were remanded and told to return on November 19. But on the appointed day, the court did not sit. The Chief Magistrate was in Bushenyi, and no other judicial officer stepped in. ‘Even the suspects were not brought,’ Mr Tumukunde said. Lawyers secured a new date-December 3-, but again, proceedings stalled. Mr Tumukunde explained that the State Attorney was absent.
‘The court waited more than 20 minutes, but she neither appeared nor explained her absence,’ he said. On December 4, the bail hearing resumed, only for prosecutors to request more time, citing a high volume of applications. The court adjourned again to December 8, when the State Attorney informed the magistrate that the Chief Magistrate had travelled to Kampala for official duties. Another adjournment followed, to December 11 (today).
Lawyer Allan Musasire addressed the court on Monday, expressing worry about what he called the State’s disregard for constitutional rights. ‘Your Worship, the sureties travel from far and keep wasting their money,’ he said, adding: ‘Among the accused we have parliamentary contestants- Fostine Wanikina (Butiru, Manafwa District), Emmanuel Kihembo (Bukanga North, Isingiro), Moses Arinaitwe (Kinkinzi West, Kanungu), and Sarah Kiconco (Rwampara). Their continued detention violates the presumption of innocence.”
Human rights monitors and legal experts say the Mbarara detentions echo a recurring pattern observed in past election cycles-where mass arrests, prolonged detention, and delayed court processes effectively serve as a tool of political control. But for dozens of families waiting anxiously for today as the court is expected to resume its business, the questions are more immediate: Will the court finally sit? Will their loved ones get a fair hearing? And will the law protect them when politics has already intervened?
When contacted yesterday, Principal Judge Jane Frances Abodo denied the allegations that the Judiciary is conniving with the regime to oppress supporters of the NUP party. ‘I want to categorically state that the Judiciary is not conniving with the regime to oppress NUP; we are independent. We expect this to be said, given the political season we are in; however, in the Judiciary, we don’t look at political parties but the cases that come in,’ Justice Abodo explained.