Police say probing their own over defacing Kyagulanyi posters

KAMPALA - The Police say they have commenced investigations into two incidents involving a faceoff between their officers and supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP). 

In one of the incidents, armed Police officers are seen in a video recording tearing a campaign poster for NUP’s presidential flag-bearer, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.

According to a Police statement, one incident took place on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, in Mbale city, while the other happened in Kampala city.

The statement issued on Thursday,  September 25, further reads, “The footages show that an altercation occurred between Police officers and supporters of the National Unity Platform, leading to the dispersal of the supporters. During this process, some campaign materials were damaged”.

The statement indicates that the Police have launched an investigation into these allegations, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the inquiry.

NUP's position

Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, also NUP spokesperson in a post to X, formerly Twitter, said the poster was made and put up by the party coordinators in Mbale and took it to their city office.

He explains that police officers raided the offices, tore the poster and fired live bullets at their supporters.

“Uganda Police, we’ve seen NRM supporters with huge posters of their candidate in different cities and towns, is it a crime if the poster is for the NUP candidate??”.

Rogers Taitika, the Elgon Region police spokesperson, said they are still investigating what he termed as the ‘whole incident’.

“We are now investigating what happened before and after. We are also viewing the available Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) footage before making the conclusion,” he says.

In another incident near Kikuubo Lane, two police constables are seen grabbing a large poster of Kyagulanyi from the NUP supporters, one using an AK47 rifle to tear through the poster as he fights the supporters. The NUP supporters, however, complained that near the scene, the NRM supporters were cheering on with similar posters of their candidate. 

In reaction to the two incidents, Kyagulanyi said, “They are fighting an idea too strong to silence with this criminality”.