Bobi petitions CDF over detained NUP members

Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, yesterday petitioned the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen David Muhoozi, with five demands for release of his party supporters who are in army detention. 
“We demand that all Ugandans still under illegal military detention be released immediately. We also demand justice for those who have been tortured; perpetrators of the tortured people are brought to book, and the victims be compensated,” the National Unity Platform (NUP) leader stated. 

He also demanded that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces cease trying civilian supporters in military courts.
Bobi Wine said those who have been released revealed that they were held in Makindye, Mbuya, Kalangala, Nakasongola, Kyengera and Kasajagirwa army facilities, among other detention centres run by military personnel. 
The petition was taken by a group of NUP leaders, including party spokesperson, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, but their attempt to deliver it to Gen Muhoozi’s office at Mbuya were futile as they were blocked at the barracks’ Quarter Guard.  

Presented petition
The NUP group included the party deputy president for northern region, Ms Lina Zedriga, and Makindye East MP-elect Derrick Nyeko, among others.
Mr Ssenyonyi said they were received by junior officers who made some phone calls and later Lt Col E.K. Masolo received the petition on behalf of Gen Muhoozi and the Minister of Defence,  Mr Adolf Mwesigye, to whom the petition was addressed.  

“We know that the office of the CDF and the Minister of Defence are public offices and we do not need to get an appointment. Nonetheless, they have managed to receive our letter and we hope that they can give us an official welcome so that we table these matters to them,” Mr Ssenyonyi said. 

Asked why NUP team was not allowed to meet Gen Muhoozi, the deputy army spokesperson, Lt Col Deo Akiiki, said they were not aware of any scheduled meeting between the CDF and NUP. 
“I have not heard of any arrangement of a meeting between him [CDF] and them,” Lt Col Akiiki said.
Earlier in the day, Bobi Wine told the media at the party head office in Kamwokya, Kampala, that they were calling on the public into a fresh wave of protests against the night curfew,  which he says has lost its original purpose of fighting the spread of the Covid19 pandemic. 

“The general public is being extorted by security officers on roads. The whole idea of curfew is hogwash. We just wonder whether Covid-19 is only spread at night yet during the day there are many people gathered in various parts of the city,” he said. 
“If this doesn’t stop immediately, it will be one of the reasons Ugandans are going to storm the streets because people’s businesses and livelihoods have been affected. Parents are unable to take their children back to school because of this curfew which has been politicised by Gen Museveni,” the NUP leader added. 

In March last year, President Museveni instituted a national curfew banning night movements from 7pm to 6am as one of the measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. 
However, nearly six months later, Mr Museveni relaxed curfew hours to start from 9pm to 6am but maintained restriction on movement for boda boda from 6pm. 
Although during the course of last year, the President relaxed the lockdown with partial reopening of public transport and businesses, the curfew has remained in force.
 
Last week, Daily Monitor reported that during one of the special Cabinet meetings, many ministers requested President Museveni to lift the curfew and open the economy since the infections now appear under control.     
When this matter came up in Parliament the following day,  the Government Chief Whip, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, confirmed that a special Cabinet sitting had directed the taskforce on Covid-19 to review the remaining preventive measures.

Yesterday, Bobi Wine said the statutory provision on the matter had never been renewed which means that the regulation was illegal. 
“There is no justification whatsoever for this curfew. It is against the law and it must be called off as soon as possible because people are suffering,” he said. 

MORE DETAINED 
Bobi Wine also said since he called for massive peaceful protests, the number of his supporters held incommunicado has risen from 423 to 512 while 230 have been detained in different police stations and 400 are being tried in military courts. 

He said only 27 have been released on bail while 44 have emerged from unknown places where they had been detained illegally without trial. He said they are undergoing rehabilitation and treatment in various parts in the country. Makindye East MP-elect Derrick Nyeko said his constituency has one of the highest numbers of people who were abducted from their homes and workplaces by security forces.