KYAGULANYI: I won’t negotiate with Museveni to free our people

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The president of the National Unity Platform-NUP, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu has said that he has no intentions of negotiating with president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for the release his supporters who were arrested last year.

It’s exactly four months since security forces rounded up and arrested members of Kyagulanyi’s campaign team while in Kalangala district where he had gone to look for votes ahead of the presidential election in January 2021.

Speaking today at his party headquarters in Kamwokya where prayers had been organized for NUP supporters who have died in the ‘struggle’ and those in prison, Kyagulanyi said that he is increasingly coming under pressure from the relatives of those in detention to talk to the government in order for them to be released.

He however said if indeed they have cases to answer, let them be taken to civil courts and be charged as there is nobody above the law.

In December 2020, security forces rounded up more than 100 NUP supporters and kept them in different detention centres in Masaka district. The majority of them have since been released on bail. However, 35 of them mostly with a close relationship with Kyagulanyi were charged in the General Court Martial with being found in possession of bullets contrary to the UPDF and Firearms Acts. They include; Nubia Li, Eddie Mutwe, and Dan Magic among others.

Kyagulanyi also called for unity among all forces of change arguing that divisions will help the state to continue dominating them.

For his part, Sheikh Ismail, an Imam at A Shuraa Mosque Bweyogerere called upon NUP leaders and supporters to trust in God because its only him who will liberate them from their current woes. Ismail also called upon the government to stop treating opponents as though they are not citizens of Uganda.

While speaking at Kyankwanzi on Wednesday, President Museveni said his government will deal decisively with anybody who tries to disorganize peace in the country. He said his resistance movement cannot be shaken by riots and demonstrations by NUP supporters in towns like Kampala.

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