Tuesday, 19 January 2021 _Leader of Uganda’s main opposition party has accused government forces of raiding its headquarters amid efforts by its staff to launch a legal challenge against President Yoweri Museveni’s re-election.
“Our party office has been raided by the military and been cordoned off. Everybody is being pursued,” opposition leader Bobi Wine said on Monday, adding that party leaders were now on the run.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was under house arrest himself.
The opposition leader demanded that the military release him from house arrest, saying his home in the capital of Kampala was not a legally recognized detention center. He further alleged that government troops had assaulted his spouse.
Military spokeswoman Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso, however, said she was not aware of the alleged incident, noting that Wine’s house had been surrounded for his own safety.
Moreover, police spokesman Patrick Onyango announced that opposition National Unity Platform (NUP)’s office had been cordoned off for security reasons, without elaborating on whether soldiers had entered the premises.
The government wants to disrupt the documentation of voting fraud, NUP spokesman Joel Ssenyonyi alleged. “They don’t want work to continue at our offices because they know that we are putting together evidence to show the world how much of a fraudster Museveni is.”
The electoral campaign and the voting last week were marred by a deadly crackdown by security forces on opposition supporters and an internet shutdown. At least 54 people were reported killed in one week of protests in November last year.
Uganda’s electoral commission declared incumbent Museveni the winner of the January 14 election on Saturday, sparking protests. Wine, a pop star-turned-legislator, came second and claimed Museveni had won by fraud.
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