Godwin Toko
On June 30, 2025, I visited Noah Mitala, alias Noah Mutwe, another of Bobi Wine's bodyguards currently incarcerated in Luzira Prison. He joined a long list that includes Achillea Kivumbi, Gaddafi Mugumya, Grace Wakabi alias Smart, and Edward Ssebufu, alias Eddy Mutwe. Speaking to him through the iron bars at the holding cells of Buganda Road Magistrates Court – the same holding cell where I was held in January – I could tell he was devasted but not for himself as for his family. Also there were his wife, his mum, who couldn’t hold back her tears, and his 2-year-old son. His mum is sickly, so it was upon him to provide her medication; the longer he stays behind bars, the bleaker the future looks for her. Noah, like many Uganda men of his age, is also the sole breadwinner for his family. So, his wife and son too have a hard time ahead. Yet, for all this, the case against Noah is ridiculous to say the least.
According to the charge sheet, Noah was allegedly approached by Charles Twiine, a senior police officer who served as the spokesperson of CID and now works at Parliament and asked to kill the President and his son. Of course, the accusation looks serious when stated this way, and yet the joke about it is that Noah was supposed to use the most rudimentary tool for the job – pavers! President Museveni is one of the most protected human beings on the African continent. Wherever he goes, an army of soldiers with the most sophisticated technology will accompany him with the single job of ensuring that even the most feared Russian, American, Israeli, or Iranian weapon stands no chance of harming him.
Yet, a young productive Ugandan is now filling up space in Luzira and burning down his most productive years because the police, and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions convinced themselves that he was on a mission to kill the president with a paver! Even then, Noah’s case is not unique. Early this year, armed men, paid by Ugandan taxpayers put hours into planning, tracking, and eventually drove all the way to Mukono on a mission that would make a great reading in a spy novel about tracking Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan. Yet, there was no terrorist in the story – none! The man they set out to abduct was Edward Ssebufu alias Eddy Mutwe.
When he was eventually arraigned in court, Eddy Mutwe was charged with stealing a jumper! In a country where the police will tell people reporting murder, armed robbery, and rape to contribute some money for fuel more often than not, it is rather interesting they found a car and all the fuel to track Mr Mutwe up to Mukono for the crime of sealing a jumper! Mr Mitala believes his case has nothing to do with pavers. Instead, he told me the true reason he is behind bars is because he used his social media sites such as Facebook and TikTok to call out government excess. I believe him. The week before I saw him at Buganda road, I was on the hunt for another prisoner, Edward Awebwa who is currently at Olia Prison Farm in Adjumani where the now 25-year-old is serving six years for the offence of calling the President a dictator!
Of governments and the people who run them, James Madison, famously said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary”, yet men are men: immortal beings prone to making mistakes, being selfish, and corrupted. It is for this reason that men – or human beings – who assume political offices must always remember that such offices, however big and powerful, does not make them angels. What is the point in locking up a young law abiding Ugandan and putting the life of his mother at risk just because he spoke up against corruption? After all, even God himself, does not strike human beings down for saying the things he doesn’t like. The evidence to the contrary is that criticism actually makes leaders better, perhaps it’s time to embrace the likes of Mitala.
Godwin Toko
