National Unity Platform (NUP) Deputy President for Buganda, Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, resurfaced on Wednesday after more than two weeks incommunicado when unidentified security operatives reportedly dropped him at Nateete Police Station.
Shortly after, he was transferred to the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Butambala to continue legal proceedings. Kivumbi had disappeared on July 9, hours after securing bail from the International Crimes Division of the High Court on terrorism-related charges.
During his disappearance, both the Uganda Police Force and the UPDF denied having him in custody. NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya questioned those denials, arguing that similar claims had been made in previous cases before missing opposition figures were later produced by security agencies.
Kivumbi’s lawyers had filed a habeas corpus application seeking to compel the state to reveal his whereabouts, while the High Court had directed security agencies to investigate and report back within seven days.
His sudden reappearance and immediate transfer to court have raised fresh questions about who held him during the two weeks he remained missing and why security agencies denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.
