Activist Gideon Nova Kwikiriza has revisited his 2024 arrest and interrogation, drawing parallels with the recent remand of Maj. Gen. James Birungi on treachery charges before a military court.
Kwikiriza, a former president of the online civic platform Ugandans on X (UoX), said he was summoned to Kololo after spending eight days in Luzira Prison following the March to Parliament protests.
He recounted facing a three-hour interrogation led by Maj. Gen. Birungi and another intelligence officer.
“It was during that meeting that I realised they had never known that Ugandans on X had a president until the March to Parliament protests,” Kwikiriza said.
He explained that security officers had tracked online posts referring to a “president” of the movement, leading them to suspect he was among the organisers of the protests.
According to him, a key line of questioning focused on alleged funding behind the demonstrations.
“One of their central questions was: ‘Who funded you to protest?’” he said, adding that his responses appeared to frustrate the senior officer.
Kwikiriza further claimed that tensions escalated during the session.
“Every answer I gave made Birungi more frustrated and more hostile. At one point, he even raised his hand to slap me, but the other officer restrained him,” he stated.
The activist noted that the second officer maintained professionalism throughout the interrogation and, in his view, prevented the situation from worsening.
His account comes days after Maj. Gen. Birungi was remanded by a military court on treachery-related charges after reportedly spending months in detention.
Authorities have yet to release full details of the case, and it remains unclear whether it is connected to past operations involving civilian arrests.
Reflecting on the development, Kwikiriza warned about what he described as systemic vulnerabilities within state institutions.
“In a broken country, no one is safe,” he said. “Those who use their offices to intimidate and persecute citizens should remember that the same system can turn against them.”
The March to Parliament protests in 2024 attracted widespread attention, particularly among young Ugandans mobilising online.
Civil society groups raised concerns at the time over arrests and detentions, while security agencies maintained that their actions were necessary to preserve public order.