Uganda: Museveni Justifies Security Raids, Stiffens On Bail
By Black Star News Photos: YouTube Screenshots Gen Yoweri Museveni has come out to stiffly defend his security forces’ raids on citizens’ homes which have become overly too rampant in a space of about one month. Although wee hours’ cordon, search and abduct or arrest episodes are all too familiar as Museveni’s security forces’ modus operandi, what begun on May 16 as a search, seize and an investigation operation on former Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among’s known residences in Kampala and its metropolis, including her upcountry home, soon morphed into what political watchers consider military raids on critics of the ruling establishment. In the early morning of June 15, past-immediate Kampala Lord Mayor and the interim president of the new opposition People’s Front for Freedom, senior counsel Erias Lukwago was abducted from his house in Kampala and held incommunicado for two days. Museveni’s son who heads the military, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, then posted on X (formerly twitter) that he had Lukwago in his “basement” with the captive’s pictures undergoing what seemed like torture to follow. Men in military uniform then dumped Lukwago at a police station in Kampala. He was then produced in court and charged with misprision of treason. Being the lead counsel of jailed opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye who is accused of treason, the State alleges that Lukwago failed to report his client. Besigye together with his two co-accused have since been denied bail right from November 2024 when they were incarcerated. The sick Lukwago, too, has been denied bail. In yet another related security-style raid, the home of former Ethics and Integrity minister, Miria Matembe was to follow on June 24, and held incommunicado for days. Again Muhoozi admitted having Matembe. She was later produced in court, remanded to prison and granted bail. Next to disappear was veteran journalist, researcher and insightful political commentator, Timothy Kalyegira. He, too, was lucky to be produced in court, remanded and granted bail. However, a major security earthquake was to land on NTV and the country’s largest independent newspaper, Daily Monitor and all Nation Media Group media outlets in Kampala in the wee hours of June 28. The tremors are still reverberating as the media houses remain closed down of which Muhoozi took responsibility. But addressing the country on the night of July 4, Museveni strongly justified the security operations as “filling the gaps” that have been there for a long time saying in the past he did not have enough cadres. “Therefore, what the security forces have been doing in the recent past is not a regression. It is not a regression at all…It’s patriotism…” Museveni said; dispelling fears that Uganda is fast sliding back into its “dark” past. To Say that “the bad things of the past are back is wrong. So, to say the things of the past have come back really you are deceiving yourself,” Museveni continued justifying his military’s actions. “Things of the past” refers to atrocities allegedly committed by Idi Amin and Dr Apollo Milton Obote’s governments and their militaries. On bail, Museveni said, “so, why we are opposed to bail…The answer is why we are opposed to bail is because they [the accused persons] attack and threaten witnesses. In future, we may not get witnesses.” He blamed Besigye for “creating scenes in courts of law”. “Why would this great democrat and human rights’ fighter spend so many calories on refusing to come to trial where he has got the opportunity to prove his innocence and expose the undemocratic behavior of the dictatorship?” Museveni asked: “Therefore, those who want to know the truth, wait for the trial of the accused people in court.” Museveni also wonders why the legal system permits an accused person to delay proceedings for extended periods of time. “How can somebody who is accused; whatever you try, for two years, is not tried? Is this a good system?” asked he, adding; “I cannot allow impunity in our system; even in the security forces. It’s therefore, impunity promoters who have been inviting the security forces to cause some of the [accusations].” In what appears to be a veiled warning to his critics, Museveni declared: “You must be accountable for your words and for your actions.”
Black News 
By Black Star News
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Gen Yoweri Museveni has come out to stiffly defend his security forces’ raids on citizens’ homes which have become overly too rampant in a space of about one month. Although wee hours’ cordon, search and abduct or arrest episodes are all too familiar as Museveni’s security forces’ modus operandi, what begun on May 16 as a search, seize and an investigation operation on former Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among’s known residences in Kampala and its metropolis, including her upcountry home, soon morphed into what political watchers consider military raids on critics of the ruling establishment.
In the early morning of June 15, past-immediate Kampala Lord Mayor and the interim president of the new opposition People’s Front for Freedom, senior counsel Erias Lukwago was abducted from his house in Kampala and held incommunicado for two days. Museveni’s son who heads the military, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, then posted on X (formerly twitter) that he had Lukwago in his “basement” with the captive’s pictures undergoing what seemed like torture to follow. Men in military uniform then dumped Lukwago at a police station in Kampala. He was then produced in court and charged with misprision of treason. Being the lead counsel of jailed opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye who is accused of treason, the State alleges that Lukwago failed to report his client. Besigye together with his two co-accused have since been denied bail right from November 2024 when they were incarcerated. The sick Lukwago, too, has been denied bail.
In yet another related security-style raid, the home of former Ethics and Integrity minister, Miria Matembe was to follow on June 24, and held incommunicado for days. Again Muhoozi admitted having Matembe. She was later produced in court, remanded to prison and granted bail.
Next to disappear was veteran journalist, researcher and insightful political commentator, Timothy Kalyegira. He, too, was lucky to be produced in court, remanded and granted bail.
However, a major security earthquake was to land on NTV and the country’s largest independent newspaper, Daily Monitor and all Nation Media Group media outlets in Kampala in the wee hours of June 28. The tremors are still reverberating as the media houses remain closed down of which Muhoozi took responsibility.
But addressing the country on the night of July 4, Museveni strongly justified the security operations as “filling the gaps” that have been there for a long time saying in the past he did not have enough cadres.
“Therefore, what the security forces have been doing in the recent past is not a regression. It is not a regression at all…It’s patriotism…” Museveni said; dispelling fears that Uganda is fast sliding back into its “dark” past. To Say that “the bad things of the past are back is wrong. So, to say the things of the past have come back really you are deceiving yourself,” Museveni continued justifying his military’s actions. “Things of the past” refers to atrocities allegedly committed by Idi Amin and Dr Apollo Milton Obote’s governments and their militaries.
On bail, Museveni said, “so, why we are opposed to bail…The answer is why we are opposed to bail is because they [the accused persons] attack and threaten witnesses. In future, we may not get witnesses.” He blamed Besigye for “creating scenes in courts of law”.
“Why would this great democrat and human rights’ fighter spend so many calories on refusing to come to trial where he has got the opportunity to prove his innocence and expose the undemocratic behavior of the dictatorship?” Museveni asked: “Therefore, those who want to know the truth, wait for the trial of the accused people in court.”
Museveni also wonders why the legal system permits an accused person to delay proceedings for extended periods of time.
“How can somebody who is accused; whatever you try, for two years, is not tried? Is this a good system?” asked he, adding; “I cannot allow impunity in our system; even in the security forces. It’s therefore, impunity promoters who have been inviting the security forces to cause some of the [accusations].”
In what appears to be a veiled warning to his critics, Museveni declared: “You must be accountable for your words and for your actions.”
