What is NUP planning to overthrow M7? A man’s reward for having no answer

Many Ugandans who don’t support President Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) continue to allegedly get tortured by the state security agencies in a manner that is dehumanizing and a mockery of human rights principles.

The latest victim of such torture is Eric Mwesigwa, a supporter of the National Unity Platform (NUP), a political party that appeals to a young generation and wants to bring President Yoweri Museveni era in Uganda to an end – 37 years since he became president.

According to Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine, the leader of NUP, Mwesigwa has been missing for two weeks. And, when he reappeared yesterday, his body was filled with torture wounds including plucked-out fingernails.

Here is what Gen. Museveni’s thugs did to our comrade Mwesigwa Eric, who we have been looking for these past two weeks, Bobi Wine on Monday wrote in a Facebook post bearing several photos of Mwesigwa half-naked with broken skin and soul, crying.

Words can’t explain the amount of pain that comrade Eric Mwesigwa is going through. The torture marks on his body following his release, days after he was kidnapped and tortured proves the how cold-hearted the regime the regime is. We seriously condemn these inhumane actions!! pic.twitter.com/JTE3nK0FG8

— Hon. Luyombya Godfrey (@Godie_luyos) February 13, 2023

They abducted him and tortured him asking him what we are planning to do to “overthrow the government,” Bobi Wine, who himself has been tortured to near death by the state, further writes.

His tale is not different from those of the other hundreds abducted and tortured or even murdered in cold blood, he adds. What a group of cold-hearted criminals, he concludes.

The photos of Mweisgwa’s lean body frame with freshly healing wounds were widely shared on social media by mostly opposition supporters who were dismayed by the ‘barbarism’ of the regime.

It is not yet known which state agency tortured Mwesigwa; and the government has not spoken out on this case: not even the known vocal supporters of the regime who are usually quick to come to its defence.

State violence against all those whose ideology differ from that of the regime is a systemic issue in Uganda. Him Mwesigwa Eric was tortured after his abduction by the state operatives, his pain is unspeakable & extremely dehumanising. Of course so many cases continue in-camera,. pic.twitter.com/jZvr6Zr8Qm

— Freedom Movement Uganda (@FreedomMove_Ug) February 14, 2023

The Secretary General of NUP, David Lewis Rubongoya, said listening to Mwesigwa’s torture story was akin to watching a scene in a horror film. “What they did to him after abducting him is unbelievable. The need to rescue the motherland from such inhumane acts gets ever more urgent,” Rubongoya said.

Joel Ssenyonyi, NUP’s Spokesperson, hinted that Mwesigwa was burnt with metallic objects. “Eric was kidnapped and later burned with a hot iron on his chest for responding in the negative when asked what “our next move” in overthrowing the regime was,” Ssenyonyi revealed.

The level of human rights abuses fuelled by political biases increased and got uglier after the rise of Bobi Wine, a youthful singer-turned politician and the formation of NUP.

The rise of NUP posed the regime with a new competition that threatened the hold of the Museveni era, hence the full force with which security agencies use to quell their political ambitions.

Comrade Eric mwesigwa who was abducted last week from kazo was dumped in kyebando today night. He was toutured badly pic.twitter.com/HcfLLzK2hq

— Bio Electricity (@bio_electricity) February 12, 2023

The constitution of Uganda provides for how a government or a regime can be changed –through democratic means and through participating in legal political activities.

The NUP, like all other political activists that rose since elective politics was introduced with the 2001 national elections has shown no signs of engaging in subversive activities other than seeking the mandate and votes of Ugandans to bring them into power.