KAMPALA
The National Unity Platform (NUP) has levied fresh accusations against security forces, alleging the abduction and coercion of its supporters to sign false affidavits aimed at invalidating Elias Nalukoola’s victory in the Kawempe North by-election. This follows the earlier detention of 20 NUP members arrested during and immediately after the election.
Speaking at the Electoral Commission, NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya claimed security forces have intensified their campaign of intimidation. “I must say that since the election, many of our polling agents have been arrested and tortured. Some of them have been forced to implicate Honorable Nalukoola in electoral offenses… His agents are being arrested, up, left right and center, being forced to sign affidavits which are not true,” Rubongoya asserted.
He further alleged that security personnel, responsible for election-day violence, are now targeting NUP members to fabricate evidence against Nalukoola. “We have not seen the regime arrest its own officials who caused all the violence. They were commandeering JAT and were bringing the people. And here they are picking up our people, trying to force them to implicate our own,” Rubongoya stated.
Attempts to solicit police clarification on these allegations proved unsuccessful, with spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma unresponsive to inquiries.
Elias Nalukoola, whose delayed gazettement has fueled public outcry, directly implicated President Museveni. “General Museveni, get to know that those guys, those security operatives, are arresting my former agents and supervisors. They are being coerced to append their signatures on affidavits which are intended to be used for the impending petition by the National Resistance Movement. They are swimming in the scourge of evidence. They have no grounds upon which they can base that impending petition. And indeed, one councilor, Henry Bule of Chikaya, one of the secretaries of the local government of Kawempe division, was abducted in the wee hours of the night. Why are they doing that if they have their own evidence?” Nalukoola questioned.
He also highlighted the alleged torture of Soka William at Kawempe police station. “Soka William is also in the police custody at Kawempe police station. He’s being tortured from there. He’s being coerced by operatives in your government, General Museveni. They are forcing him to append his signature on the affidavit they intend to use in the petition which is about to be filed by Nambi,” Nalukoola added.
Nalukoola vowed to resist any attempt to overturn his mandate. “Time has come for Uganda to have an enhancement of democracy. You must accept, in this case, we gave you a bloody nose in the recent by-election, we are calling upon you to do the rightful thing. Order all those armed men and women to go back to their barracks and stop brutalizing Ugandans, especially those in Kawempe North constituency,” he declared.
The NUP maintains that these arrests represent a calculated effort to subvert the democratic process and deny the people of Kawempe North their chosen representative.