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Dr Lina Zedriga appearing before the Chief Magistrates Court in Gulu
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In the quiet hours of Friday morning, as Gulu City stirred awake, a political mystery that had lingered for weeks quietly unfolded inside the Chief Magistrate’s Court when Dr. Lina Zedriga Waru, the Deputy President of the National Unity Platform (NUP), was presented for prosecution.
For more than 20 days, rumour swirled, particularly in northern Uganda, that Dr Zedriga was being held at the Fourth Infantry Division headquarters in Gulu. While the National Unity Platform insisted that she had been abducted by men in military uniform, security agencies rejected the claims, raising more questions about her whereabouts.
Without prior notice or a press alert, Dr Zedriga, 64, was on Friday presented by the state before a magistrates’ court presided over by Augustine Alule, where she was charged with inciting violence and remanded to prison. Although this ended weeks of uncertainty about her whereabouts, it raised many more questions.
For many supporters and observers, her resurfacing was less a return than a reckoning, unfolding under the cold glare of the law amid denials from the very security agencies that had earlier disowned knowledge of her whereabouts.
Dressed in a black-and-white striped dress and red sandals, Dr Zedriga was quietly ushered into the court and was charged with inciting violence, contrary to Section 79(1) of the Penal Code Act, Cap 128, an offence prosecutors say was committed in December 2025.
According to the charge sheet seen by Uganda Radio Network, Dr Zedriga is accused of inciting attacks against supporters of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) in multiple districts across Northern Uganda, including Gulu, Amuru, Omoro and Nwoya.
The document states that the offence was registered on February 4 at what is described as Aswa West Police Station by an unnamed officer attached to the Aswa West Regional Criminal Investigations Department. But almost as soon as the charge was read, its origins were publicly questioned.
Aswa West Police Spokesperson David Ongom Mudong dismissed the reference to the police station, stating that no such facility exists and that the regional police leadership had no record of authorising the charges. He said that the police did not have any involvement in her arrest, detention, or charging.
Mudong further said he could not account for where Dr Zedriga had been held or from where she was produced in court, adding that available information suggested she had been brought from Kampala rather than Gulu.
The military was equally emphatic in distancing itself from the case.
Maj Gen Felix Busizoori, the Commander of the Fourth Infantry Division, dismissed claims that the army had detained Dr Zedriga at any point. “Please, for that we are not involved. You ask the police. I don’t know anything about it,” he said.
Busizoori noted that he only learnt of Dr Zedriga’s court appearance through a call from the Registrar of the Gulu High Court and insisted she had not been produced from any military facility in Gulu.
“I hear she came from Kampala, so I don’t know anything. You ask people from Kampala. I cannot speak for them. Not me. I don’t have anything. I don’t know,” he added.
Inside the courtroom, Dr Zedriga stood alone, without legal representation. When asked by the magistrate whether she understood the charge and whether it was true or false, she responded firmly: it was false.
With no lawyer present and no sureties available, she was unable to apply for bail and was subsequently remanded.
Beyond the courtroom, the case has triggered debate even among members of the ruling party. Alex Okoya, the LCII Chairperson of Labour Line Ward in Gulu City, a political analyst and an NRM member, questioned whether the incitement charges could survive legal scrutiny.
Okoya, who also describes himself as a spokesperson of the NRM-affiliated Workers League, said that while he does not condone lawlessness, he equally opposes what he termed ‘political witch-hunting’.
He argued that post-election periods should be moments of reconciliation rather than prolonged legal battles, warning against what he called the growing tendency to apply “ubiquitous charges” in politically sensitive cases.
“We are all Ugandans. This world is round. Today, you are dealing with someone; tomorrow, they may be part of your government. We need to be a just society and think about the future,” Okoya told Uganda Radio Network.
Dr Zedriga’s court appearance comes against the backdrop of a deeply contested election. The Electoral Commission declared President Museveni, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party chairperson, winner of the January 15 presidential election with 71.65 per cent of the vote, extending his rule to nearly four decades.
His main challenger, National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, secured 24.72 per cent. Kyagulanyi, the musician-turned-politician popularly known as Bobi Wine, has reportedly gone into hiding since the elections, further deepening the sense of political uncertainty.
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