UHRC condemn abduction of ex-Besigye aide Mugumya

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The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has condemned the suspected abduction of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party flag-bearer and political activist, Sam Mugumya. 

Mugumya is also a former personal aide to the arrested four-time presidential candidate Dr Col (rtd) Kiiza Besigye, who is now battling treason charges in Luzira Prison.

Family sources claim that Mugumya was last seen on Monday, August 25, 2025, at night during supper before he left for a workshop in Mbarara in the morning of Tuesday, following a series of public addresses during the launch of PFF party events in Kigezi region last week.

Sam Mugumya who was Dr. Kiiza Besigye's aide and a long-time political activist was abducted on Tuesday in Nyamitanga Mbarara city. (Courtesy photo)

“We received news of his abduction by plain-clothed gunmen, and we went to three Police stations in Nyamityobora, Ruti, Mbarara Central Police Station and at the Regional Police Commander’s office, but we failed to locate him,” a family member who preferred anonymity claimed.

Mugumya’s last public appearance campaign

Speaking in Rukungiri during the launch of PFF, Mugumya, who is contesting with PFF’s Besigye’s trusted women league leader Ingrid Turinawe Kamateneti, former Rukungiri Municipality legislator and PFF western region vice-president Roland Mugume Kaginda and Dr Wallen Tumwine Nuwagaba for the party ticket, challenged his rivals against malice, sabotage and smear campaign.

“I appeal to PFF flag-bearers and supporters to learn to select the best team ahead of the 2026 General Elections. We are now in practice, but you should select the best flag-bearer who is on form to represent the party from the training we have attained. Our friends in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party have been fighting in primary elections. I ask you to portray political maturity by fronting the strongest team to battle NRM,” he said.

“I am ready to do anything possible to see Dr Besigye and Obeid Lutale free again by any means possible,” Mugumya said in his last appearance speech before his disappearance.

Mugumya, who recently declared interest to stand as the Rukungiri Municipality Member of Parliament (MP) on the PFF ticket against National Resistance Movement (NRM) party flag-bearer and former presidential candidate Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde, had returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where he had spent eight years in Ndolo Military Prison in Kinshasa.

"Mugumya was allegedly arrested on Tuesday morning by plain-clothed military personnel while having breakfast at NIM Hotel in Nyamitanga division in Mbarara city before he was bundled into a waiting numberless drone vehicle that took him to an unknown destination," PFF deputy secretary general Harold Kaija said.

Unconditional release

Speaking at Speke Resort Munyonyo on August 27, 2025, during the stakeholder engagement meeting on elections organised by the UHRC, Kaija condemned the abduction of Opposition politicians, calling it a total witch-hunt to detract democracy in the country.

PFF deputy secretary general, Harold Kaija condemned the abductors for failing to observe human rights and open democracy during his speech. (Photo by Isaac Nuwagaba)

“Security forces must stand as instruments of peace, not instilling fear among the civilians. Mugumya was abducted like other political prisoners languishing in jail, but this continues to seem as if it is normal in our country,” he said.

UHRC condemns arrest

UHRC commissioner Crispin Kaheru, representing commission chairperson Mariam Wangadya, condemned the arrest, asking the security agencies to enhance a peaceful environment for the 2021 elective season.

“We condemn the act in the strongest terms. As a commission, we have already dispatched our teams from Mbarara, Fort Portal, Kampala and Kabale to establish the whereabouts of Mugumya,” he said.

“We are in contact with both security and intelligence services to establish where he could be and hope to get the answer,” he assured.

Security agencies respond to abduction allegations

Uganda Police Force (UPF) spokesperson Robert Kituma Rusoke responded that Mugumya was never arrested by the Police and that Mugumya was never in any Police detention facility.

“It is not the Police that arrested Mugumya,” he confirmed.

The Special Forces Command (SFC) spokesperson, Maj. Jimmy Dennis Omala said that Mugumya was not arrested by the SFC team and that he had not received any situational report about the alleged abduction.

“We do not have SFC in Mbarara. There is nothing like such information of arresting Mugumya within our circles,” he noted.

The Director, Defence Public Information, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye dismissed the allegations of abduction conducted by the UPDF officers.

“I do not indulge in any accusations or rumours. If the PFF party leaders allege that it is UPDF officers who arrested him, the onus is on them to prove whether it was UPDF or not because they were not in army uniform,” he said.

UHRC director monitoring and inspection Ruth Sekindi revealed that the UNHRC 2022 report recommended that Uganda investigates all reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances and torture before, during and following the 2021 elections and hold accountable the parties, but this remains to be seen.

Sekindi insisted that as a member state of the United Nations, Uganda has committed to protecting, promoting, and respecting the individual rights and fundamental freedoms laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Mugumya’s name became famous when he joined Reform Agenda in the early 2000s while a student at Makerere University, before he became Besigye’s aide at the camp (ADC) after his return from exile in South Africa.

Considered one of Uganda’s strong-hearted Opposition activists, Mugumya, in 2017, wrote a letter to the Congolese justice minister asking to be killed so he could be “free forever”, but was later released on October 21, 2022.

As a key figure in the Activists for Change (A4C) pressure group and a notable leader during the "Walk to Work" protests in 2011, Mugumya demonstrated his commitment to justice and democracy.