KAMPALA.
The Minister for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and National Guidance, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, has said that the government knows the exact location of National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine.
Kyagulanyi, who lost the January 14 presidential election to incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, has remained out of public view since casting his vote.
He has been updating supporters through social media posts and videos, but his precise location has remained unknown.
The opposition leader has previously said he cannot return home to Magere due to security concerns, claiming that intelligence reports indicated a threat to his life.
Speaking on NBS Television on Sunday, Dr. Baryomunsi said the government was fully aware of Kyagulanyi’s location and questioned why he was hiding rather than claiming his victory as he had promised before the elections.
“He’s the person who was inciting his supporters that they should look for the vote, protect it, and demand for it. So how can he go to demand his vote from a bush or from wherever he’s hiding? We know where he is, and he’s just safely there, but he’s just cowardice,” he said.
The chief of Defence Forces and first son Gen .Muhoozi Kainerugaba has since said their pursuit of Bobi Wine ended.
Dr. Baryomunsi also dismissed Kyagulanyi’s claims of rigging and urged him to take his evidence to court.
“He can go to courts of law if he thinks he has evidence that he was rigged. In my own district, Kanungu, he garnered 12,000 votes,” he added.
The electoral commission declared President Museveni the winner of the disputed elections with 7,946,772 votes, representing 71.65 per cent of the total valid votes cast, securing him a seventh consecutive term in office. Mr Kyagulanyi was given 2,741,238 votes (24.72 per cent) in his second attempt to dislodge the former guerrilla leader who has been in power since 1986.
Mr Kyagulanyi rejected the results, describing them as “fake” and claiming they have “zero backing”. His rejection is based on several claims of systemic fraud and state-led repression. According to him, there was ballot stuffing countrywide and “cooked up” figures by the Justice Simon Byakama-led electoral commission following the widespread failure of Biometric Voter Verification Kits, which forced a resort to manual registers.
Following the polls, several arrests and night raids have been conducted at Mr Kyagulanyi’s home and at his supporters’.
Speaking from her hospital bed on Saturday afternoon, Ms Barbie Itungo, Bobi Wine’s wife said the assailants who descended on her at around 10 pm on January 23 broke windows and the door before making their way into the family house and all rooms including her bed room . Ms Itungo accused the attackers of having molested her. She said one of them had ripped her night garments apart.
“He went back behind me…I was wearing a biker, and on top of it I was wearing a knight shirt. He held the trousers of the nightie and pulled me up. He held and then pulled the shirt of the nightie from the back. The buttons of the shirt broke, and he stayed with my shirt. I was forced to go and sit in a corner. Some of them were unbothered. Others looked the other way,” she said.
Ms Itungo said the rough treatment she was subjected to was precipitated by her refusal to acquiesce to a demand to give the assailants the password to her mobile phone handset. The attackers went away with mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. Ms Itungo said she suspected that the attack in which she and all the people in the compound suffered severe beatings was possibly aimed at breaking her husband’s spirit and compelling him to come out of hiding.
“I think the intention was to break Bobi’s spirit so that he comes out of hiding, but I encourage him to stay strong. He should not come out until it is safe,” she said.
Ms Itungo said she also suspects that the raid in which two of their dogs were shot and killed could also be about planting evidence to set the ground for bringing trumped-up charges against her husband. “They could have planted things in our home to come up with claims that my husband is involved in acts of terror,” she said.
The raid on Bobi Wine’s abode came hours after Mr Muhammad Muwanga-Kivumbi, one of NUP’s top honchos, was remanded to custody.
The NUP leadership is already under a lot of pressure following the detentions of Ms Jolly Tukamushaba, the party’s Deputy President for western Uganda, and Lina Zedriga, the Deputy President for northern Uganda. Critics say the arrests and dusk raid on Bobi Wine’s abode is intended to have a chilling effect on the party, its members, and planned operations.
The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, however, said the party will not cower to such intentions.