Appearing weak and depressed, former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago revealed unsettling accounts of his ordeal during the 48 hours he was held in an unknown military detention.
Lukwago, who is also the defence lawyer in Dr Kizza Besigye’s treason case, was abducted by men in military uniform last Monday and charged with misprision of treason 48 hours later. In an exclusive interview with the Monitor last evening, Mr Fahad Lukwago narrated the distressing ordeal his father, Lukwago, faced in a Toyota Hiace passenger van, popularly referred to as Drone, while being transported to an undisclosed location.
Blindfolded and frazzled, Lukwago arrived to find his head shaved and his suit stripped away, leaving him in only shorts and a shirt. He was later given some posho and beans to eat, though it is unclear how many meals he actually received. Fahad, who got the story from his mother, Ms Nalongo Zawedde Lukwago Lubwama, recounted that his father was locked in a cramped room resembling those used for psychiatric patients, furnished only with a single plastic chair.
“At night, my father had to fold his jacket to use as a pillow because he struggles to lie flat due to a spinal surgery he underwent in India,’ Fahad recounted, adding that ‘whenever he [Lukwago] tried to rest, he was met with intense pain, forcing him to remain seated in the plastic chair to relieve the strain on his back….For two consecutive days, he couldn’t lie down.”
After realising his shirt was dirty, Lukwago sought permission to wash it. It was then that he was reportedly offered an NRM T-shirt. Although he hesitated to wear it, Fahad told Daily Monitor that he ultimately had no choice but to accept the yellow T-shirt.
Lukwago, is also the leader of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), a new political party aiming to end President Museveni’s four-decade rule, is a prominent figure in the Opposition landscape. e has consistently voiced his criticism against the NRM government and its policies over the years. n the detention facility, Fahad revealed that the space was tightly constrained, making it difficult for him to stretch out. He explained that his father later began to experience breathing problems due to stomach ulcers that often led to what he called ‘acid reflux’.
Acid reflux happens when stomach acid consistently travels back up into the esophagus, the tube that connects the mouth and stomach. This backflow, according to gastroenterologists, irritates the esophagus lining, leading to a burning feeling some people often refer to as heartburn. Recounting the psychological torture his father endured, Fahad revealed that whenever Lukwago was prompted to talk about what he went through in the detention facility, he would take deep breaths and respond in a quiet, hesitant manner.
Yesterday, Lukwago faced charges of misprision of treason at the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Makindye, Kampala. His legal team and others condemned the charges as politically driven, emphasising the unjust treatment of an innocent man simply doing his job as an advocate and court officer. The former Lord Mayor was seized from his home in Wakaliga, a Kampala City suburb, on June 15, and whisked to an undisclosed detention facility. The CDF would later confirm his abduction on his X-handle.
How he was abducted
According to Fahad, his father was abducted by armed soldiers, some dressed in UPDF uniforms and others in plain clothes.
“The operatives arrived in two “drones” – a term widely associated with the abduction and transportation of suspects by security agencies. As we reconstructed the difficult events of that day’, Fahad, whose father is currently on remand, told the Monitor that one soldier scaled the perimeter wall after cutting through the barbed wire that served as protection against intruders.
‘The section that was cut is only a few metres from the main gate. After entering the compound, the soldier opened the gate and allowed other soldiers in, along with one of the drones, to drive in and collect Dad’, Fahad recalled.
“I was terrified when I saw one soldier jump over the fence. I ran away and hid because I feared for my life,” Fahad narrated. The sliding door to the former Lord Mayor’s house was open, while the burglar-proof door had been shut but not padlocked, making it easy for the soldiers to enter the residence.
Upon entering, the operatives knocked on several rooms on the ground floor of the mayor’s storeyed mansion. He added: “They tried to force their way into my room, but they could not gain access because I had locked myself inside. They then moved upstairs, where my father’s bedroom is located.”
When asked how the soldiers appeared to know that Lukwago’s bedroom was upstairs, Fahad responded: “I think someone signalled to them that it was upstairs. I had just come down from upstairs to alert my mother and father that soldiers had invaded our home.”
When the operatives reached Lukwago’s bedroom, which is situated between two other rooms, they knocked, and Lukwago’s wife opened the door, believing it was her son, Fahad.
“They entered the room and tried to look for anything they could use as evidence against him, but they did not find anything,” Fahad’s voice quivered, as he struggled to hold back tears. The rest of the family members were ordered to remain outside the house, and their phones were confiscated. “We were warned not to go back into the house,” Fahad recalled.
As Lukwago was being taken away, his wife reportedly pleaded with the operatives to allow her to give him medication for ulcers and for a slipped spinal disc, for which he had previously undergone surgery in India. Her request was allegedly ignored.
The Monitor could not independently verify this statement, as there were no authorised security personnel or government officials willing to comment on the matter. Lukwago’s wife, who was initially denied access to him at Kira Division Police Station yesterday, was later allowed to see him.
According to Fahad, she returned and narrated his ordeal to the family.