The National Unity Platform (NUP) has announced plans to seek a habeas corpus order against the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) following the alleged disappearance of the party’s Buganda Vice President, Muhammad Kivumbi Muwanga, after his reported re-arrest in Mpigi District.
According to NUP leaders and Kivumbi’s legal team, his whereabouts have remained unknown since Friday, when he was reportedly arrested while travelling back to Butambala District, only a day after securing bail from the International Crimes Division of the High Court.
NUP lawyer Samuel Muyizi said the defence team had searched several police stations in Mpigi, Kampala and neighbouring areas but was informed that Kivumbi was not in custody at any of the facilities they visited.
Muyizi added that the lawyers had also received unverified information suggesting Kivumbi might have been taken to the military headquarters in Mbuya, although they had not been able to confirm the claim or establish that he had been presented before any court.
He said the legal team would now petition court for a writ of habeas corpus to compel the security agencies to produce Kivumbi if he is being held in lawful detention.
NUP spokesperson and Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi criticised what he described as a growing trend of unlawful arrests and enforced disappearances. He argued that anyone accused of committing an offence should be arrested through lawful procedures, detained in a recognised facility and presented before a competent court within the framework of the law.
Ssenyonyi also dismissed claims that Kivumbi’s criticism of President Yoweri Museveni and other senior government officials could justify his re-arrest, maintaining that expressing political views does not amount to a criminal offence.
Kivumbi was first arrested on January 22, 2026, in connection with violence that allegedly followed the January 15 general elections.
The prosecution alleges that between January 11 and January 17, in Kibibi and Gombe town councils, Kivumbi and others engaged in acts intended to intimidate the government for political purposes.
The allegations include attacks on Kibibi Police Station, the Butambala Electoral Commission tally centre, destruction of sections of the Butambala–Gomba Road and damage to vehicles.
Prosecutors further claim that seven people lost their lives during the unrest.
He was initially charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act before the Butambala Chief Magistrate’s Court, with the case later expanded to include 24 additional suspects.
On Thursday, the International Crimes Division of the High Court granted Kivumbi cash bail of Shs10 million.
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