The family of the Kyaddondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has given the Ugandan government 48 hours to produce him dead or alive.
Addressing a press conference in Kamwokya flanked by his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi Itungo, Mr. Eddie Yawe, Kyagulanyi’s elder brother said that the family needs to know his whereabouts since some reports they have been following in the media indicate that he is being held at Pondo Barracks in Arua while others show that he is at Bombo Barracks.
“We as a family of Bobi Wine, we do not know where he is at the moment but all I can say is that we are demanding for him, alive in the next 48 hours. Whether what he did that led to his detention is right or wrong… we want to see him because he has a right to be seen by his family, wife and children,” Mr Yawe said.
Mr. Ssentamu, a pop singer, more commonly known as Bobi Wine is a prominent critic of Uganda’s government. He was charged with unlawful possession of firearms in a military court on Thursday for his alleged role in clashes in which the longtime president’s motorcade was attacked by people throwing stones.
His arrest set off an outcry in the East African nation, with rights groups demanding his release. He has not been seen in public since he was detained after Monday’s clashes.
A lawyer for Ssentamu, Medard Sseggona, told reporters after Thursday’s closed-door hearing that his client had been so “brutalized he cannot walk, he cannot stand, he can only sit with difficulty … It is hard to say whether he understands this and that.”
Ssentamu was arrested in the northwestern town of Arua earlier this week. He will reappear in court on August. 23, the military said in a statement.
Three other lawmakers arrested were charged earlier on Thursday with treason.
Many Ugandans have expressed concern for Ssentamu’s safety after the country’s deputy prime minister told lawmakers he had been hospitalized in custody, without giving details. The official also said he would be tried as a militant because he had allegedly been found to have a gun in his possession.
Ssentamu’s wife insisted he doesn’t know how to handle a weapon, however.
In a suburb of the capital, Kampala, small groups of supporters took to the streets and burned tires in protest but police quickly dispersed them, national police spokesman Emilian Kayima said.
Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger who has himself been detained many times, told reporters that the case of the detained lawmakers highlighted what he called “the hopelessness” of parliament before a military regime.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has said in a statement that Ssentamu and others would be “punished according to the law.”
The 36-year-old Ssentamu, who was elected to parliament last year, has emerged as a powerful voice with his calls for young people to “stand up” and take over this East African country from what he calls the current government’s failed leadership.
In hotly contested by-elections this year he has backed candidates who emerged victorious, signaling his rise in ranks of the political opposition. Many followers urge him to run in the next presidential election in 2021.
Museveni, a key U.S. security ally, took power by force in 1986 and has since been elected five times. The last vote in 2016 was marred by allegations of fraud.
