KAMPALA: Police in Kampala have arrested Lewis Rubongoya, the secretary general of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party on allegations of threatening violence in the recently concluded Omoro county by-election.
Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman, confirmed the arrest and said Rubongoya alongside his driver, Godwin Agaba, were being held at Natete Police Station.
“It’s alleged that on 26/05/2022 while in Omoro County Mr Rubongoya using Motor vehicle reg. no.UAS490Z threatened Hon. Acheng Ruth,” Onyango, said, adding that the accused would be transferred to Omoro and charged.
Rubongoya, through his Twitter handle, said that while driving earlier on Wednesday, a traffic officer stopped him and claimed that his car was wanted.
“Today morning while driving via wandegeya with my driver Agaba Gordon, a traffic officer stopped us and claimed that my car is wanted on allegations of having committed a crime during the recently concluded by-election in Omoro,” Rubongoya said.
“We were briefly arrested at Wandegeya Police station and later I was released and proceeded to attend Hon Ssegirinya and Sewanyana’s court. However Gordon was later driven to Nateete Police Station. After court I passed by Natete Police Station to follow up and I’ve also been re-arrested,” he added.
NUP lawyers Benjamin Katana and Shamim Malende confirmed the party Secretary General had been arrested over Omoro by-election violence and said they were working to have him released.
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NUP Party president Robert Kyagulanyi, a.k.a Bobi Wine posted: “I have learned about the arrest of our Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya and his driver on some bogus charges of threatening violence in the recently concluded by election of Omoro. For me it’s not surprising. The Museveni regime, like all dictatorships, thinks it will weaken and subdue us by intimidation and harassment. Hang in there comrades, it will be well.”
A report released by Human Rights Watch early this month indicates that the Omoro-by elections were marred by security abuses directed at the opposition political parties that participated in the said polls.
According to the report, the security targeted and detained 13 opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters on the eve of the polls.
“Ugandan security forces raided the offices of an opposition political party on the eve of the May 26, 2022, by-election in Omoro County in Northern Uganda, Human Rights Watch said today. The security forces beat party supporters and arbitrarily detained at least 13 opposition supporters that night, and on election day.”reads in part the HRW report released yesterday.
The Omoro parliamentary by-election was to fill the seat previously held by Jacob Oulanyah, the Parliament Speaker, following his death on March 22 to cancer related complications.
At the end of the electoral process, the Electoral Commission, declared Oulanyah’s son, Andrew Ojok, of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the winner with 83.3 percent of the votes counted.
“The abuses in Omoro reflect the same pattern of abuse against the opposition, as during all of Uganda’s recent elections, for which no one has been prosecuted,” Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch said.
He added: “The authorities need to take urgent measures to end these persistent and repressive abuses and ensure accountability.”
Going forward, the report tasks the authorities to ensure prompt, effective investigations into the myriad violations that characterized the said by-election, and hold those found culpable for violations to account.
