Yesterday, on 7 August, on her X platform, journalist and leader of Agora, Agatha, reported that the Ugandan military—Special Forces—continues to threaten her following the release of Sam Mugumya’s torture video, which stirred up the already boiling public anger towards the Museveni regime.

These threats come about after the regime denied, publicly, ever holding Sam. In the circulating video, Sam is maimed beyond recognition; his hair is brown and easily countable; his eyes are sunken; he is malnourished from starvation; and he can barely support his body except by a rollator. Sam is lifeless; only his stern spirit propels him forth.

Agatha, among other notable individuals, has been instrumental in speaking up for Mugumya, whom the regime disappeared almost a year ago after he returned from exile in Zambia, having spent 8 years in a detention facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo on trumped-up charges.

According to this very patriotic military, publishing the video of the tortured Sam was unwise, and they insisted on knowing who had shared such a ‘horrible’ video with Agatha, whom they accused of circulating it.

Also, per the disclosed conversation between Agatha and the military, there is a plan to abduct her because the video she shared somewhat angered certain officials.

The Ugandan democratic space continues to shrink under the military grip; critics continue to run into exile for safety, and prisons and dungeons brim with both opposition leaders and supporters. Truth remains a libel and thus punishable under the Museveni regime, because only in that way can they force people into silence.

Agatha is a smidgen of the big fraction of critics, lawyers, activists, journalists, and writers who have been threatened for exposing the regime’s cruelty. The government of Uganda has mashed civic organisations, seized their bank accounts, and gone after individuals who share the truth about the regime’s shortcomings.

While Uganda’s future remains uncertain under Museveni’s governance, Ugandans should not adopt silence as their national language. They should continue to speak up. They should continue exposing the regime’s barbarism.

However, Ugandans should know that amiable speeches alone cannot salvage the country from Museveni and his family. They should equally mobilise from the grassroots and learn to counter Museveni’s tyranny by resistance.

Speaking up is one way. Words are good. But these words must be armed 'words.' Words must be armed with defiance. Until then, let’s continue speaking up and exposing the wrongs of this regime.