Soldiers and police on Monday sealed off the headquarters of Uganda’s biggest opposition party ahead of its planned protest.
A police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said the sealing off of the opposition headquarters was a precautionary move ahead of planned anti-government protests on Tuesday.
In a post on social media platform X, National Unity Platform party chief Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, said security personnel had surrounded NUP headquarters in the capital Kampala, barring anyone from entering or exiting.
He showed pictures of military personnel at the premises alongside parked army trucks.
“Ahead of our scheduled press conference this morning, the military and police have raided and surrounded the National Unity Platform offices…” Wine said.
“The cowardly regime is so afraid of the people because they know how much they have wronged them!”
Wine, 42, a pop star turned politician, has in recent years emerged as the biggest challenger to veteran President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has led the East African nation since 1986.
Ugandan youth who have spearheaded recent unrest are planning to March to parliament on Tuesday in a protest against alleged widespread corruption and human rights abuses under Museveni’s long-time rule.
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said security forces had taken precautionary steps against what he called NUP “mobilisation for the protest”.
“We have been monitoring (this). Their activities raised a red flag and we took precautionary measures,” he said.
Opposition leaders and rights activists say embezzlement and misuse of government funds are widespread in Uganda and have long accused Museveni of failing to prosecute corrupt top-level officials who are politically loyal or related to him.
Museveni has repeatedly denied tolerating corruption and says whenever there is sufficient evidence, culprits are prosecuted, for example lawmakers and even ministers.
