Former Butambala district Woman Member of Parliament and also the National Unity Platform (NUP) deputy secretary general Aisha Kabanda has revealed that supporters and sureties of the incarcerated former Butambala county legislator Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi are in panic.
Kabanda said that the panic is as a result of the deployment of security operatives at Butambala Chief Magistrates Court last week when Kivumbi was arraigned in Court and charged with fresh criminal charges of inciting violence and managing an unlawful society.
She explained that when the trial magistrate Amin Wahab allowed Kivumbi’s lawyers led by Constitutional law giant Medard Lubega Ssegona to apply for bail for their client, the operatives’ actions of recording all the details of the sureties and other people who attended Court proceedings scared them.
“Our people are scared of being abducted, they told me that there were men in Court who were recording all the details of the sureties apart from the Leader of Opposition in parliament Joel Ssenyonyi who was also presented to stand surety for Muwanga. They think that also are going to be added on his charge sheet because, they indicated that there are still others at large,” Kabanda said.
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However, sources in security disclosed to this website that the reason why operatives recorded the details of the sureties was to help them in doing ground check about them to guide the prosecutors on responding to the bail application of the accused person.
“Some accused persons present fake sureties who present forged letters from local chairpersons recommending them to stand sureties. So we have to verify with the respective chairpersons on the letters presented in Court,” a senior police detective said.
Apart from those who attended Kivumbi’s Court proceedings, others are supporters and Muslim leaders in Butambala who attended the special prayers organized by Kabanda a close friend to pray for him to overcome the troubles he was going through.
Ono Bwino has further learnt that State is also working on another criminal file which implicates Kivumbi and other NUP top leaders in treasonous activities against President Museveni government.
Sources claim that since 2020, State has been building the said file but the evidence has been scattered.
However, the statements made by nine NUP foot soldiers who were recently released from prison after pleading guilty at the military court and receiving a presidential amnesty have beefed up state’s evidence.
According to sources, they allege that there is information linking Kivumbi and other NUP leaders to a rebel group named Bali Bali which was planning an armed struggle against Museveni government.
State alleges that members of the said group recruited individuals, took them through military-style training and use of improvised explosive devices targeting infrastructure between 2020 and 2021.
Among those who received Museveni amnesty are Yasin Ssekitoleko (Machete), Patrick Mwase, Sharif Kalanzi, Joseph Muwonge, Abdallah Kintu, Emma Umar Kato, Musa Kavuma, Jimmy Galukande and Abdallah Hakim Gibusiwa
Sources said that Kivumbi is a sensitive opposition character and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) assigned senior prosecutor Rachel Bikhole to coordinate all the criminal files which State wishes to slap on him.
Ono Bwino has learnt that to avoid overwhelming pressure in the area, there is a plot to allow Kivumbi to be allowed to be released on Court bail on charges of inciting violence but he will be re-arrested and brought to Kawempe Chief Magistrates Court where he will be charged with treason and remanded again.
Sources added that among the suspects on the said treason file is former presidential candidate and NUP principal Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine), incarcerated deputy party spokesperson Alex Mufumbiro among others.
The source added that the said treason file will continue frustrating NUP political activists and force them into negotiating with the state after learning that their own foot soldiers are set to testify against them.
Kivumbi’s troubles started after the 2026 general elections day when security raided his Butambala home at night and more than ten of his supporters who were congratulating him after their win against their political rival Erias Mukiibi Sserunjogi also a brother to Ramathan Ggoobi the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Permanent Secretary and secretary to treasury were killed by bullets and many survived with serious injuries.
Kivumbi and others were charged with terrorism related charges and he spent more than six months in prison before he was released on Court bail.
He was again kidnapped along Kampala-Masaka highway 24 hours after his release and he spent 19 days incommunicado.
Last week, he was dropped at Nateete police station and later driven to Butambala where he was charged afresh.
Democratic Party (DP) national vice president Fred Mukasa Mbidde said that top NUP leaders are responsible for their current troubles.
“Political cases are solved politically not legally. Those boys really put up a spirited fight but were betrayed by their party leaders who failed to even file a Constitutional petition challenging their illegal detention. What was done last week which resulted into their release was supposed to be done immediately after their arrest,” Mbidde said.
Immediately after his release, Ssekitoleko said that the six years he spent in prison have changed him as a person to the extent that now he has to first learn to analyse issues before taking any action. He divulged that he is going to be a different person from who he was in 2020.
