Masaka City leaders yet to get brief on Nameere's arrest

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Details about the whereabouts of Masaka City Woman MP, Justine Nameere, on Saturday remained scanty since her reported arrest on Friday, May 15, in Masaka City.

Nameere and Nsubuga, driving in an open-roof Range Rover, were intercepted as they approached the Kizungu suburbs in Masaka City.

The legislator, moving in a Range Rover in a convoy of several vehicles, was reportedly picked up as her convoy drove through the streets of Masaka on Friday night. 

Her husband, Hamza Nsubuga, who sat by her side, narrated that he jumped out of the car and fled to elude the captors.

Their vehicle was part of a convoy of about eight vehicles snaking through the city in jubilation hours after Nameere's swearing-in ceremony in Kampala.

The vehicle included a pickup truck with her armed security detail, reportedly belonging to the Police Presidential Guard.

Witnesses reported that several gunshots were fired during her arrest, and as Nameere was dragged in the white Toyota Hiace van commonly known as "drone".

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the MP's guards were disarmed. Nameere got the police guards shortly after the 2026 parliamentary elections after she raised security threats.

"The drone sped off towards Kampala. We sensed trouble when our police escort vehicle mysteriously disappeared from the convoy. When the captors' vehicle forced ours to halt, they quickly grabbed my wife. In a few minutes, they were driving off towards Kampala," Nsubuga aka Papito told a group of journalists and social media bloggers who travelled with the couple.

On Saturday, May 16, Masaka Resident City Commissioner Ahmed Washaki said that he had not received a formal brief about the incident.

"I cannot comment much; I was not informed about the operation. I neither have information about her whereabouts," he said in an interview with the New Vision.

The Southern Regional Police spokesperson, Twaha Kasirye, declined to comment on the incident.

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Ali Kateregga, the NRM party chief campaigner for Nameere, said the procession with about 500 NRM party supporters started from Matanga trading centre, 20km to Masaka City central business area.

"Nameere decided to come home in Masaka to celebrate with her supporters after swearing in at Parliament, but the event was interrupted by security and her arrest, which left the supporters confused," he said.

He criticised the way security arrested Nameere, describing it as "harsh and belittling".

He said Nameere tried to resist arrest before she was overpowered. ''She attempted to run towards the nearby Brovad Hotel in vain."

The Southern Regional Police spokesperson, Twaha Kasirye, declined to comment, while Nameere's father, Vincent Ssempijja, the former Minister of Defence, who is the Nato Nameere, also has remained silent, without any public statement.

Some close relatives said the inner circle on Saturday, May 16, rushed to Ssempijja's family home in Kapere Lukaya for an urgent meeting.

Sources on condition of anonymity said that Nameere was likely to be released after "a brief detention".  The duration was not specified.

Some NRM party supporters in Masaka City, led by the city party chairman, Rogers Bulegeya, said the truth about the arrest will come to light soon.