UPDF Rejects Claims of Detaining Missing Opposition Activist Sam Mugumya
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) have dismissed allegations that opposition activist Sam Mugumya is being held in military custody, despite reports placing his arrest in Mbarara late last month.
In a sworn affidavit presented before the High Court, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Musasizi, Director of Civil Affairs at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, stated that the army had conducted a wide-ranging internal inquiry that found no trace of Mugumya.
“I, Edgar Musasizi, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), currently serving as the director civil affairs at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, in the department of joint legal services, for and on behalf of the chief of defence forces and directorate of defence intelligence and security,” Musasizi said.
“I do satisfy and return that Sam Mugumya has not at any material time been in the custody of the respondents in this matter. We have searched all relevant detention facilities’ records and found no entry relating to the said Sam Mugumya between 26th August 2025 and to date.”
The affidavit was filed in response to a habeas corpus application lodged by Mugumya’s legal team, which is demanding that security agencies account for his whereabouts.
Musasizi stressed that all units under UPDF command had been checked.
“We caused inquiries to be made in all detention facilities under the command of the 1st and 2nd respondents and no officer in the different units under the command of the 1st and 2nd respondent has knowledge of the said Sam Mugumya. I therefore confirm that the said Sam Mugumya is not within our custody and we do not know about his whereabouts.”
However, this position sharply contrasts with eyewitness accounts from August 26. Mugumya was reportedly picked up from NIM Motel in Mbarara City by plainclothes operatives, some of whom were accompanied by men in UPDF uniforms.
Nearly three weeks since that reported arrest, the activist’s fate and location remain unknown, deepening fears among his supporters and family.
