Uganda Police blocks prayers at Lukwago's party offices
“Today, we decided to pray for those people who are being incarcerated in prisons, those who have lost hope in the judiciary and those abducted with their whereabouts unknown to God’s intervention,” Lulume said.
The Uganda Police Force pitched camp at the premises with several others blocking the road to PFF office headquarters at Plot 6 Katonga road in Nakasero Kampala. (Credit: Isaac Nuwagaba)
KAMPALA - The police have intervened to halt the People's Front for Freedom (PFF) jummah prayers for party leaders Dr. Col (rtd) Kizza Besigye, Obeid Lutale and former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, currently battling court cases at High Court Nakawa in Kampala.
The police sealed off roads entering and leaving Plot 6 Katonga Road, PFF’s party headquarters, early Morning at around 7:30 on Friday, July 17, 2026, said PFF’s deputy president in charge of Buganda and the former Buikwe South Member of Parliament, Dr. Micheal Bayigga Lulume.
“Today, we decided to pray for those people who are being incarcerated in prisons, those who have lost hope in the judiciary and those abducted with their whereabouts unknown to God’s intervention,” Lulume said.
Our freedom to pray at our offices, residential buildings and other private premises is now swatted, and this is the worst the government has done to us on top of failing all the grounds for our people to access a fair trial and justice, he observed.
Police spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan, SP Racheal Kawala, in a separate interview cited failure to obtain necessary permits and security clearance as reasons for halting the prayers.
The PFF deputy president in charge of Buganda and the Buikwe South Member of Parliament, Micheal Bayigga Lulume addressing a press conference at PFF office in Nakasero Kampala on Friday. (Credit: Isaac Nuwagaba)
Besigye, who has run for president against long-serving National Resistance Movement (NRM) party chairman and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni four times, has been in detention since he was arrested in Kenya on 16 November 2024, where he had gone to attend an event organised by Kenya’s politician Martha Karua, now declared a persona non grata in Uganda.
According to the committal papers at the High Court, Lukwago is alleged to have facilitated the travel of 36 Ugandans to Kisumu, Kenya, where they were purportedly taken for training intended to support efforts to topple the government.
The prosecution further alleges that there were plans to assassinate President Yoweri Museveni through a helicopter strike, and that Lukwago was aware of the alleged scheme but failed to report it to the relevant authorities.