Courtesy photo
Seven supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) Mission Kisekka 2021 are missing with no trace. Their families insist they were abducted for opposing the current government in power. Some were reportedly kidnapped from their homes at night and others, from their work place at Kisekka market, a motor spares hub in Kampala.
“We have been to all police stations, hospitals and mortuaries in vain,” a wife to one of the missing persons says. These include; Ssentongo Ibra 22, Walusimbi Kassim 31, and 29 year-old Muganga Robert. Others are; Ddamulira Siraje, Kakomo Robert, Walakira Yusuf and Ssentamu Dan.
The seven men join their colleagues who were abducted five years ago after the 2021 presidential elections. These include; Ddamulira John, Kawoya Hood, Ssekitooleko Yasin, Mbabazi Moses Kawenja, Kasekende Tom, Muluta Muhammad and Walusimbi Thomas.
Some of these abductees are rotting in prison while others are alleged to have escaped and fled to exile. However, some families suspect that their people died and “the abductors refused to hand over the bodies for burial- reason why they are mute about their whereabouts.”
Joel Ssenyonyi, the leader of opposition in Parliament, also the NUP Spokesperson has severally raised the issue of missing persons, on the floor of parliament. Ssenyonyi, the Member of Parliament for Nakawa West division, in Kampala city vowed to keep demanding answers from the government for the whereabouts of abducted NUP leaders and supporters.
Meanwhile, Damulira Siraje’s relatives, all in despair, wonder why the government operatives keep abducting Opposition supporters and refuse to align them before competent courts of law.
“We have searched all police stations for Siraje in vain,” one of the uncles said. “Police and the army keep denying having him.” Besides, he adds that they don’t know the crime he committed. Also, more families demand that their people are presented in courts of law and charged or get freed and compensated. “Supporting the opposition is not a crime. Why don’t they ban political parties if they are not willing to compete,” one relative opines while tears stream down her face.
Similarly, Kabuye Shaban who is Kawoya Hood’s uncle says, Hood’s disappearance has caused a lot of anguish to the family. “He was arrested by security operatives at the Uganda–Tanzania border while crossing into Mutukula in 2021” he narrates.
It is alleged that Hood was subsequently transferred to a safe house under the control of the Special Forces Command (SFC)- an army unit under the command of Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Museveni’s son.
At the time of his arrest, Hood was working at Kisekka market,running a family business. Kabuye says, “Hood later on joined NUP and despite repeated cautions from us, he remained resolute in his decision.” The missing Hood was severally sighted on the campaign trail of NUP leader, Robert Kyagulanyi popularly known as Bobi Wine.
But years before that, Kabuye says, Hood’s ways had started changing while he was a student at Makerere University. “Anyone at the university is expected to be dating or seeing someone. But it was not the case with Hood. It became a concern for some of us,” narrated a family friend who preferred anonymity.
“As the years passed by, the elders got concerned fearing that maybe Hood was impotent and needed help. But to their shock, his mother caught him red handed caressing a fellow male on his graduation night,” the neighbour intimated.
Homosexuality is an abomination in African culture and remains a taboo under most religions. It is said that having been faced with a harsh reality, the relatives counseled Hood, who, according to the family friend, remained adamant. “The excommunicated him,” the neigbour further confided in this reporter.
Tripple Trouble
That wasn’t all. The family faced more trouble in 2022 after Hood’s disappearance, when an army man showed up claiming ownership of their land. “He immediately started grading it before we could even seek for any court redress,” narrated Nakitto, another family relative.
“The ruthless soldier insisted that Hood had sold him our land but we can’t tell the truth because we don’t even know Hood’s whereabouts,” Nakitto added. “We are in despair. We have tried to regain our land in vain. Police refused to help saying, they don’t want trouble with the soldiers,” Kabuye narrated the family ordeal.
Criminalising Opposition Support
Meanwhile, to many political observers and activists, Uganda’s multi-party system was never real democracy but a scheme engineered by President Yoweri Museveni to prolong his rule. Museveni has been in power for over 40 years. Political parties are controlled, funded, and neutralised to ensure they pose no real threat to his power.
The rise of People Power and the National Unity Platform (NUP) challenged the regime and it responded with violence. NUP supporters are branded as terrorists, charged with treason, and criminalised a divergent ideology, away from that of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
In Uganda, political choice has become a crime punishable by death, abduction, or rotting in secret detention facilities. Those who survive are forced into exile just to stay alive. This same pattern resurfaced during the recently concluded 2026 elections, spreading nationwide to several parts of the country.
Kiseka Market stands as a painful symbol of this repression. Known as a stronghold of youthful resistance, where young people earned a living in selling car spare parts. The NUP Kisekka Mission 2021, was deliberately targeted, leaving many disappearances without a trace.
See Amnesty International Report on Uganda’s repressive politics- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/01/uganda-authorities-subjecting-opposition-supporters-to-brutal-campaign-of-repression-ahead-of-elections/
