National Unity Platform (NUP) Secretary General David Rubongoya has accused supporters of President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) government of hypocrisy over their changing stance on alleged state-led abductions.
Rubongoya said some NRM sympathisers previously dismissed concerns raised by opposition figures over the disappearance and alleged detention of their supporters, arguing that the state could only arrest people and could not abduct them.
In a statement, Rubongoya recalled how opposition activists and their supporters had used the term “abduction” to describe incidents involving people allegedly taken away in unmarked vehicles.
He claimed NRM supporters had criticised the opposition for using the terminology, insisting that the incidents should instead be described as arrests.
According to Rubongoya, some government supporters went further by mocking victims and repeating claims by regime officials that some of the missing individuals had left the country to seek employment, commonly referred to as kyeeyo.
The NUP official argued that the debate over terminology had now changed as people perceived to be closer to the ruling establishment increasingly raise concerns over alleged abductions and seizures.
“Now, as the machinery turns and more of their own are targeted, their vocabulary has suddenly caught up with the reality,” Rubongoya said.
He accused those who had previously dismissed reports of enforced disappearances of only recognising the seriousness of the issue after allegedly experiencing similar treatment themselves.
Rubongoya questioned whether personal victimisation should be necessary for people to acknowledge what he described as oppression.
His remarks come amid continued political tensions in Uganda, where opposition parties and rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about arrests, detentions and alleged enforced disappearances involving opposition supporters.
The government and security agencies have previously maintained that individuals detained in connection with suspected offences are subjected to lawful arrest and investigation, rejecting characterisations that security agencies engage in abductions.