The Butambala County Member of Parliament and National Unity Platform deputy president for Buganda Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi has been further remanded to Kitalya Prison until March 10, 2026, alongside 24 co accused as investigations into terrorism charges continue.
Kivumbi was on Tuesday brought from Kitalya Prison to appear before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Butambala District. The charges arise from alleged post-election unrest in Butambala following the January 2026 General Election, during which security forces reportedly shot several people.
He was arrested shortly after the violent incidents that followed the declaration of election results in January and has remained in custody since then.
The prosecution maintains that investigations are ongoing. However, the defence team led by Busiro East MP Medard Lubega Sseggona challenged the continued detention, arguing that Kivumbi’s constitutional rights had been violated.
Sseggona told journalists after the court session that the defence had sought a ruling on an earlier application demanding the release of the accused persons on grounds of rights violations.
“The first purpose was to receive a ruling on our application, which we made before the learned trial magistrate, to release the accused persons on account of violation of their rights,” Sseggona said.
He argued that several constitutional safeguards had been disregarded, particularly in Kivumbi’s case.
“A number of rights, especially for the Honorable Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, were violated. He has never recorded a statement, and the reason he never recorded a statement is because he declined to answer to the dictates of the police. They wanted a particular line of statement, which he declined, especially when he mentioned the murders that took place at his home on that fateful night,” Sseggona said.
According to the defence, they complained to court that investigations were being conducted in a biased manner and asked that police be compelled to ensure impartial and professional handling of the matter.
“We told the court that the police are carrying out lopsided investigations and they need to be compelled to get impartial and objective officers to carry out professional investigations. The magistrate has ruled in his wisdom that he is not in a position to supervise that. It is the work of the Director of Public Prosecutions,” Sseggona said.
He added that the magistrate declined to order the release of the accused on grounds that a formal application would be required to address some of the alleged rights violations.
“Among other things, he was never informed of the offense he committed, he had no access to his lawyer, no access to his next of kin at the time of bringing him to court. The magistrate thinks that should be a formal application, which is not a difficult job anyway, so he declined on those accounts,” Sseggona explained.
The defence also pressed the court to demand clarity from the state regarding the status of investigations and to compel the prosecution to act expeditiously in line with Article 28 of the Constitution, which guarantees a fair and speedy hearing.
“We insisted that we need to know the stage of investigations and to compel the state to act expeditiously as required under Article 28 of the Constitution. So we await that when we come back on March 10. We will also come to court before that date and seek some other remedies,” he said.
Kivumbi and his co-accused remain on remand at Kitalya Prison as the case returns to court next month amid heightened political interest in the outcome.
