{"id":100,"date":"2026-02-24T16:18:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/nup-ankole-coordinator-bright-muhumuza-i-was-kept-in-a-safe-house-for-3-weeks\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:18:52","slug":"nup-ankole-coordinator-bright-muhumuza-i-was-kept-in-a-safe-house-for-3-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/nup-ankole-coordinator-bright-muhumuza-i-was-kept-in-a-safe-house-for-3-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"NUP ANKOLE COORDINATOR BRIGHT MUHUMUZA: &#8220;I WAS KEPT IN A SAFE HOUSE FOR 3 WEEKS&#8221; &#8211; MK Newslink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tPost Views: 748&#13;<\/p>\n<p>By Twesigye AggreyIn Mbarara Citywww.mknewslink.com\u2014\u2013The Ankole regional coordinator of the National Unity Platform (NUP), Bright Muhumuza, has spoken out about what he describes as a harrowing three-week detention in a government-operated safe house.<br \/>\nMuhumuza shared his account during an interview with www.mknewslink.com on monday, detailing the events that led to his arrest and subsequent detention.<br \/>\nAccording to Muhumuza, the incident began on Jan.13th, 2026, at around 6:00 a.m., when he received a phone call from mbarara city division police commander, SP Kenneth Kabwigo, inviting him for a harmonization meeting at Agip motel .<br \/>\nAt the time, Muhumuza had just returned from Kampala, where he had collected appointment letters and facilitation funds intended for NUP coordinators in the Ankole region<br \/>\nMuhumuza said he viewed the proposed harmonization meeting at Agip Motel as an opportunity to reconcile with SP Kenneth Kabwigo, who had earlier opened a case at mbarara CPS accusing Muhumuza of plotting to kill him and impounded his campaign vehicle at Mbarara Central Police Station (CPS).<br \/>\nMuhumuza said he drove to the venue with two NUP supporters and parked the vehicle carrying UGX 46 million meant to facilitate NUP coordinators in the Ankole region, UGX 24 million in personal funds, and appointment letters for party coordinators, leaving the supporters inside to keep watch over the money and documents as he proceeded alone to meet the DPC.<br \/>\nMuhumuza alleges that as soon as he entered Agip Motel, he was arrested on the orders of the DPC, handcuffed, and beaten for about 30 minutes in the DPC\u2019s presence, before vehicles carrying plain-clothed men whom he believes were from the Special Forces Command (SFC)entered the premises and took him away<br \/>\nMuhumuza said he was blindfolded and taken to an unknown location, where he was allegedly beaten, questioned about his political ambitions in mbarara city despite being from Rukungiri district, and held in isolation without contact with family or lawyers under poor living conditions,including inadequate food and lack of hygiene.<br \/>\nWhile in detention, Muhumuza said another detainee identified as \u201cAsiko\u201d informed him that opposition figure Sam Mugumya had also been held at the facility but had been rushed to hospital in critical condition.<br \/>\nHe further alleged that his detention was politically motivated by rivals in mbarara city south, where he unsuccessfully contested a parliamentary seat, and said he has not conceded defeat and intends to challenge the election results in court.<br \/>\nMuhumuza also cited financial strain following his detention, saying he invested approximately UGX 500 million in his parliamentary campaign and that his businesses have faced challenges, including attempts by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to close his paver-laying factory in Koranorya over allegations that it is located in a wetland.<br \/>\nMuhumuza described conditions in the alleged safe house as \u201cheinous,\u201d claiming that many other Ugandans continue to experience similar treatment in facilities reportedly operated by the SFC.<br \/>\nHe said that after three weeks in detention, on February 5 at around 3:00 a.m., he was blindfolded and transported to the Rwizi Regional Police headquarters in mbarara city, where he was formally handed back to police.<br \/>\nHe was later arraigned before the mbarara grade one magistrate\u2019s court and charged with rash and negligent acts contrary to Section 211(a) of the Penal Code Act three weeks after he had been reported missing.<br \/>\nMuhumuza was subsequently remanded to Kyamugorani prison, where he spent six days.<br \/>\nHe said conditions at Kyamugorani Prison were relatively better than in the alleged safe house, praised the prison officers for their professionalism, and added that he plans to mobilize friends to assist with renovations, including painting the prison wards..<br \/>\nMuhumuza, who is now on bail, maintains that the charges against him are politically motivated and is expected to return to court on March 12, 2026, for mention of his case.<\/p>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/mknewslink.com\/nup-ankole-coordinator-bright-muhumuza-i-was-kept-in-a-safe-house-for-3-weeks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; Post Views: 748&#13; By Twesigye AggreyIn Mbarara Citywww.mknewslink.com\u2014\u2013The Ankole regional coordinator of the National Unity Platform (NUP), Bright Muhumuza, has spoken out about what he describes as a harrowing three-week detention in a government-operated safe house. Muhumuza shared his account during an interview with www.mknewslink.com on monday, detailing the events that led to his &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3659155457675267_172535249438148":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"tie-small":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",75,75,false],"tie-medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",165,165,false],"tie-large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",205,205,false],"slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false],"big-slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NUP-ANKOLE-COORDINATOR-BRIGHT-MUHUMUZA-I-WAS-KEPT-IN-A.jpg",224,224,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}