Police in Kampala has confirmed the arrest of Hon Muwanga Kivumbi, the National Unity Platform (NUP) Party vice president for Buganda on grounds of electoral violence during the January polls.
According to the police statement released on Thursday 22nd, January 2026, the outgoing legislator for Butambala constituency is currently in police custody and will be arraigned before court in due course.
“His arrest is in connection with recent incidents of political violence in Butambala,” the Police said on X.
According to NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya, the arrest of Muwanga Kivumbi means that the top party leadership of NUP is being targeted and so far three out of four party vice presidents have been arrested.
“With the arrest of Hon. Muwanga Kivumbi, this brings to three the number of the National Unity Platform Deputy Presidents currently in detention! A crazy season.” Rubongoya said.
The arrest of Kivumbi is not news as the other deputy presidents Lina Zedriga for Northern Uganda and Jolly Jacklyn Tukamushaba for western Uganda were both picked on the voting day, January 15th, 2026.
Prior to Kivumbi’s arrests, he had alleged that on the voting day security forces raided his home at night while vote tallying was ongoing and shot dead members of his campaign team inside his residence which allegations police dismissed.
While addressing the press on January 16th,2026, a day after elections, the police spokesperson ACP Rusoke Kituuma said that the Butambala county MP had organized goons from Kampala to cause violence in Butambala which included raiding of police stations.
With the national Unity Platform party president’s where abouts being unknown, the arrests of top NUP leaders could be interpreted as a direct target on the top opposition political party and also as a way to intimidate opposition leaders as the election process continues.
Today, 22nd January 2026, elections are being held for Lord Mayor, Lord Councilors, and District Chairperson and heavy police and military deployments could be seen across the metropolitan area. However, some Ugandans this could be seen as a deployment to intimidate Ugandans from freely participating in the ongoing elections.
