Ugandan authorities have escalated their crackdown on opposition forces following last week’s contentious presidential election, detaining a senior ally of opposition leader Bobi Wine amid allegations of electoral violence. Muwanga Kivumbi, deputy president of Wine’s National Unity Platform party and a sitting lawmaker, was taken into custody Thursday for his purported involvement in deadly clashes within his Butambala constituency that resulted in seven fatalities.
The detained parliamentarian, who recently lost his parliamentary seat, stands accused of instigating violence that prompted security forces to open fire on his residence. Kivumbi emotionally addressed the tragedy during victim funerals, maintaining that those killed were innocent casualties of state-sponsored aggression rather than perpetrators.
President Yoweri Museveni, extending his 35-year rule with a declared 71.6% victory that opposition forces decry as fraudulent, has taken a confrontational stance against dissent. In a nationally televised address, the 81-year-old leader alleged opposition elements attempted to disrupt voting processes, claiming victims in Butambala had assaulted police officers with machetes. Museveni specifically urged religious leaders to intervene with youth he described as vulnerable to political manipulation.
Despite police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke’s assurance that Bobi Wine (legally named Kyagulanyi Ssentamu) faces no current accusations and remains under state protection, the opposition leader reports being in hiding due to safety concerns. The electoral process itself faced widespread criticism following a multi-day internet blackout and technical failures in biometric voting systems that disproportionately affected opposition strongholds including the capital Kampala.
International observers note this election continues Uganda’s six-decade absence of peaceful presidential transitions since independence. Museveni’s forthcoming seventh term will extend his leadership toward a half-century, cementing his dominance over a political landscape where no clear successors have emerged within his National Resistance Movement party.