Ugandan MP and Bobi Wine ally arrested over election violence

Ugandan police have detained a lawmaker and close ally of opposition leader Bobi Wine over his alleged involvement in election-related violence last week.

Wine National Unity Platform (NUP) deputy leader Muwanga Kivumbi has been accused of organizing attacks on police stations and counting centers following the election defeat, which the party denies.

Police said seven people died in the incident, but the politician gave a different account, saying 10 people were killed at his home while awaiting the results of the parliamentary election.

The Uganda Police Force posted on X on Thursday that Kivubi would be “arraigned in due course”.

“His arrest is related to recent political violence,” the statement added.

Kivubi was arrested amid tensions following last week’s election in which President Yoweri Museveni was reelected for a seventh term.

In a victory speech over the weekend, Museveni warned opposition figures, including Kivubi, of coordinating planned attacks on polling stations.

He said seven people were shot dead by police after a group of opposition supporters allegedly attempted a violent attack armed with machetes in the Butambara area outside the capital, Kampala.

Wine, Museveni’s closest challenger who went into hiding after his house was raided, has denounced the results as “fake” and said there was electoral fraud.

He also claimed that a “silent massacre” and a crackdown on political activists were taking place.

On Tuesday, he posted on social media that more than 100 people had been killed in election violence, without providing evidence.

Earlier, Ugandan army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Museveni’s son and his potential successor, said security forces had killed 22 opposition supporters in poll-related violence.

Since the election, Ugandan authorities have reportedly arrested dozens of young people on various charges related to election-related incidents in Kampala.

Museveni first came to power in 1986 as a rebel leader. By the end of his next term in 2031, he will have served for 45 years.

Uganda has not experienced a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence.