On January 29, 1986, after Museveni, a former rebel, had captured the country, he swore to the populace, Ugandans whose hope for a free country had been clipped by dire totalitarianism and disregard for their basic rights, and I quote: 

The sovereign power in the land must be the population, not the government… The people of Uganda should only die from natural causes that are beyond our control… Therefore, the security of the people of Uganda is their right and not a favour bestowed by any regime. No regime has the right to kill any citizen of this country…

Forty years later, Museveni has become a shadow of his old self. He is schizophrenic. To him, the life of Ugandans is secondary, and his stay in power is primary. He is a demigod holding a vessel of life, which he clips whenever he chooses. And now, the security of Ugandans is no longer a prerogative but a privilege bestowed on them by Museveni and his family members. 

The same evil that compelled Museveni to pick up arms and confront the perpetrators has resurfaced, but even on a bigger scale, and it dangles uninterrupted. At the same time, Ugandans shudder in fear—they cannot confront the injustice meted out on them by Museveni because they fear for their lives. 

Indeed, the damage Museveni has caused Uganda is irreparable, and needless to say, not even God can undo it—everything has fallen apart, and the centre cannot hold it anymore. Of course, Ugandans can salvage their country from the hungry wolves, but they will need to rebuild it from scratch. Obviously, that is what happens when one entrusts the fox with one’s chickens. 

Democracy is in shambles. Freedom of expression and basic human rights, unless prescribed by Museveni’s regime, are punishable crimes. Uganda is at a crossroads. The gun is the only language—security brutality is the engine propelling the Ugandan dream forth—and dignity for the Ugandan voter is a myth. Uganda is a patient on her deathbed, breathing her last. Alas, Ugandans are not angry enough. 

For a week now, I have been thinking about Sam Mugumya, whom the UPDF whisked away from Nim Motel in Mbarara on August 26, 2025, and has since been in their custody for about 283 days. No news about his whereabouts. No charge against him. No trial. And even though people initially made noise about his abduction, now everyone is quiet, and the dust has settled. That is the actual state of Uganda. We move on so fast, as long as it is not our turn. But the hawk does not stop swooping on us, because it knows we coil whenever it strikes.  

Sam was previously Dr Kizza Besigye’s aide, and by the time of his abduction, he had just returned from Zambia, where he had been in exile, after spending eight years in the Ndolo Military Prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For those who did not follow Sam’s story, he fled Uganda in 2014 and ran to the DRC after friends in the Uganda intelligence tipped him off about his planned annihilation by the Uganda government. Before then, they had arrested him about sixty times regarding his fervent activism and criticism of the Museveni regime. 

Sam Mugumya’s crime, as reported by the DRC government, was his illegal entry into the country and his plotting of a rebellion against the Ugandan government under President Museveni. Of course, these crimes were concocted after the regime failed to silence Sam. Rotting in Ndolo was the only way they could get rid of him besides completely erasing him.  

Unfortunately, Sam walked out of the Ndolo Military Prison in October 2022, a free man, who would later resort to condemning Museveni’s dictatorship that he had last criticised eight years ago. Sam believed that surrendering was never a way to salvage a wrecking country, and that fear only dragged the liberation struggle backwards. He stood firm, and when he returned from exile in 2025, he sought to represent Rukungiri Municipality in parliament under the People’s Front for Freedom, a new movement under Dr Kizza Besigye, who has been in jail for 566 days since November 2024, without charge or trial.

Immediately after Sam’s abduction, his lawyers presented the case before the Civil Division judge Collins Acellam, who issued a writ of habeas corpus, directing that Mugumya be presented before a competent court in seven days. This order was directed against Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces, the Directorate of Intelligence and Security, and the Attorney General.  

However, these individuals denied ever having Sam in their custody, just like they have denied having their other victims, who, by chance, resurfaced in the military court to battle treason charges. 

As of today, just like Andrew Mwenda, a journalist and Muhoozi’s friend, has said, Museveni is senile, and he can no longer handle youthful opposition and unrelenting dissent, so he has resorted to using excessive military force against his critics, to instil fear in whoever would want to oppose his governance. 

It is a plain truth that Museveni’s political ideologies are crass for the country’s contemporary problems—Uganda needs fresh ideas for the country’s current problems—it does not need lectures or historical excerpts. No. Uganda needs solutions to its unemployment, corruption, poor infrastructure, etc., which President Museveni can barely offer. 

In fact, Museveni is too senile to run Uganda. He is in charge of the country, but somewhat, individuals, especially dissidents, are abducted in broad daylight by the UPDF, which he heads, and still the government denies knowing anything regarding their disappearance. Logically, if the government cannot account for the disappearance of its people, then it is no longer in charge. 

But it is on record that Uganda under Museveni and his son Muhoozi, never hesitate to murder or abduct anyone who threatens the NRA governance. In many cases, Muhoozi has boasted about abducting people and keeping them in his basement—as was the case with Eddie Mutwe, Robert Kyagulanyi’s bodyguard. Also, people like Kibalama have been abducted, and until now, no one has ever heard from them. The list goes on. 

Museveni and his family have stripped Uganda, and now it hangs naked. They have monopolised the national coffers, and only a few who venerate them have access to the national finances. Corruption is the arm still holding their governance. These people have no shame whatsoever. They are empty inside. They have stupefied Ugandans, and now citizens cannot think of liberating themselves, and what matters is survival.

Sadly, while they roam about in bulletproof cars, Sam Mugumya’s family mourns their son, whose certainty is uncertain. No one knows whether Sam is still alive. This is the tragedy of Uganda. Museveni has resorted to doing the same things he accused Amin of; how sad that monsters never die, that even after eliminating a monster, another monster comes to life? 

Sam’s liberties have been trampled, and even though Sam was a poet who had just published his prison poetry collection, “We Refuse to Be Victims”, not even PEN Uganda is concerned about his disappearance; not even writers are asking questions. Everyone is quiet because it is not their turn yet. 

While I pray for Sam, I hope that Ugandans ultimately stand up and resist Museveni’s rule, that they realise that in a broken country, where freedom of expression is a privilege and poverty a national anthem, where gunfire and murder of random citizens is rampant, and tomorrow is uncertain, no one is safe.

No one is coming to rescue Uganda, and until Ugandans rebel against Museveni’s bloody rule, they will never be conscious. Until they are conscious, they will never rebel against Museveni’s rule, and when the chicken master drew his sword at the chickens’ necks, they did not cry or hide; they instead united and kicked the master’s arse. 

Photo Credit: Ashanah