Missing Fort Portal NUP supporter surfaces at local police station
Bobi Wine has on various occasions lambasted the regime for being cowards and undemocratic. He decried the continued illegal arrests of his supporters commonly referred to as foot soldiers without trial.
The supporters of National Unity Platform (NUP) in Fort Portal City are living under fear due to the continued disappearance of their comrades in the political struggle to remove President Yoweri Museveni’s regime.
Fort Portal City is growingly becoming a stronghold for the opposition party led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu also known as Bobi Wine. Young people find Bobi Wine as the preferred leader of their generation.
This has not sat well with the reigning regime which wants to extend it’s rule beyond 2026. To protect their hold on power, the regime uses extreme measures to disable plans to unseat Museveni including illegally arresting and abducting NUP & other opposition leaders and supporters.
The latest victim is 19 year old Sylvester Jesse Kaswiiti of Ibonde village, Karago Sub County in Fort Portal City who has been reported missing by family and friends – only for him to be produced at a local police station for processing.
Kaswiiti’s family allege that he had abducted by military intelligence operatives because his work promoting NUP & Museveni’s opponent Bobi Wine. Kaswiiti has reportedly been recruiting youths to create leadership structures for NUP in the sub county.
While political mobilization and recruitment is legal in the country, the regime has created laws like the Public Order Management Act (POMA) to ban such activities.
Eric Tumusime, a cousin to Kaswiiti and a member of NUP denied any wrongdoing by his brother. “He is not the first one to go missing only for the victims to turn up in police coolers. Kaswiiti has been receiving threats from government informants warning to stop building support for NUP,” Tumusime said.
“There is nothing in the law that prevents someone to work for a political party if his or her choice. Te regime has been using such tactics for years to keep themselves in power. Young people Kaswiiti are paying the painful price,” Tumusime lamented.
Local and international human rights activists have condemned this acts by the government calling on Museveni to open up political space for fair competition.
Bobi Wine has on various occasions lambasted the regime for being cowards and undemocratic. He decried the continued illegal arrests of his supporters commonly referred to as foot soldiers without trial.
The NUP claims that over 1000 party have been brutally and illegally arrested without trial since the disputed 2022 general elections. Kaswiiti joins a long list of victims brutalized by the regime.
