Ten members of an opposition campaign team were shot dead by security forces at the home of Ugandan lawmaker Muwanga Kivumbi on Thursday, the day of the country’s elections, according to Kivumbi and his wife.
Kivumbi, a National Unity Platform (NUP) MP representing Butambala in central Uganda, told AFP he was “emotionally broken” by the attack. Hundreds of his supporters had gathered at his home after polls closed when security forces reportedly stormed the compound. Many fled, but ten campaign agents were trapped in a garage and killed when officers fired through the door, Kivumbi said.
Law professor Zahara Nampewo, Kivumbi’s wife, confirmed the death toll through a local hospital and described the scene as traumatizing. “Seeing fresh bodies… that is something that cannot easily go away,” she said, adding that heavy security had surrounded their home in the days leading up to the election.
Local police offered a sharply different account. Spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe claimed “a group of NUP goons” had planned to overrun and set fire to a local tally centre and police station. “An unspecified number were put out of action,” she said, noting that 25 others were arrested and charged with malicious damage of property.
Uganda held Thursday’s elections under a strict internet blackout, and President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for four decades, has been accused by rights groups of repressing opposition activity to secure another term in office.
The Kivumbi family said authorities removed the bodies from their home and that security forces remain deployed around the property, heightening their fear in the tense post-election period.
About the Author
