KAMPALA, Uganda — National Unity Platform (NUP) Deputy President Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi has resurfaced at Nateete Police Station in Kampala after spending more than two weeks incommunicado following his re-arrest by unidentified security operatives, in a development that is likely to intensify scrutiny over the role of Uganda’s security agencies.
Officials said Kivumbi was dropped at the police station by unidentified state operatives on Wednesday 29, July 2026 morning, ending weeks of uncertainty over his whereabouts.
The circumstances surrounding his release remained unclear, and it was not immediately known whether he would be formally charged or produced before court.
Vivid Voice News could not independently verify the conditions under which Kivumbi had been held or identify the agency responsible for his detention.
The opposition politician disappeared on July 9, shortly after securing bail from the International Crimes Division of the High Court, where he is facing terrorism-related charges.
Hours before his disappearance, Kivumbi had addressed supporters at his home, declaring that he intended to launch what he described as a renewed political campaign against President Yoweri Museveni’s government.
His sudden disappearance prompted his legal team to file a habeas corpus application against the Chief of Defence Forces, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General, seeking court orders compelling the state to either produce him before court or disclose where he was being held.
Last week, the High Court declined to issue an immediate writ of habeas corpus.
Justice Collins Acellam ruled that because Kivumbi’s whereabouts remained unknown and the Uganda Police Force had denied holding him, the court could not immediately compel his production.
Instead, the judge directed the respondents to investigate his whereabouts and report back within seven days.
In an affidavit filed before the court, Assistant Commissioner of Police Godwin Tumugumye, on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, acknowledged that officers had intercepted Kivumbi’s vehicle at a police checkpoint.
However, the police insisted that the opposition leader had neither been arrested nor detained by the force.
“He was not arrested, abducted or detained by the Uganda Police Force,” the affidavit stated.
Kivumbi’s reappearance now raises fresh questions about who detained him during the period he remained out of public view, particularly after police formally denied having him in custody.
Neither the Uganda Police Force nor the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) had issued an official statement explaining how Kivumbi came to be delivered at Nateete Police Station by unidentified operatives.
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The incident is likely to reignite debate over enforced disappearances and prolonged incommunicado detention in Uganda, issues that opposition parties and human rights organisations have repeatedly raised in recent years.
NUP officials have consistently accused state security agencies of targeting opposition leaders and supporters through arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and unlawful detention.
Government officials have repeatedly rejected those accusations, maintaining that security agencies operate within the law and that arrests are conducted in accordance with legal procedures.
Kivumbi’s reappearance is expected to become central to ongoing court proceedings, with attention now shifting to whether the state will explain where he was held, under whose authority he was detained and whether his constitutional rights were violated during the two-week period in which his whereabouts remained unknown.
