The National Unity Platform (NUP) party president, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has urged party supporters to embrace and welcome released political prisoners, irrespective of their comments against party leaders.
Kyagulanyi made these remarks while addressing the press and party members at the party headquarters in Makerere-Kavule on Monday, October 21, 2024, where he addressed the plight of political prisoners.
“I want to encourage all of you not to see them in a negative way, give them love, support them, and welcome them because we understand what they are going through,” he said.
Kyagulanyi promised to continue engaging them and their families, saying that as a party, they will continue supporting them in anyway possible.
“We understand all these comrades are allowing the charges to get out of prison because of the pressure and situation; we are still standing with you. We don’t criticize you for weakening because we know what you are going through, and we shall continue to take care of their families and love them, and we shall not give up,” he added.
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The party Secretary General, Lewis Rubongoya, dismissed claims that the party didn’t do enough to secure the freedom of its party members but rather said that they tried their best, though they were always disappointed by the regime.
“How many times have we been in court applying for bail, but the courts have always turned us away? The lawyers tried their best but were always tossed away by the military court, which had never prepared a single day even to present evidence before court,” Rubongoya said.
He further noted that the reason the government wants the NUP political prisoners to plead guilty is because the government is scared that in the future they could be sued.
“The reason they want them to confess to crimes they didn’t commit is because they know if they release without being charged, the government can be sued for malicious prosecution,” Rubongoya added.
However, the State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, Balaam Barugahara, committed to engaging the government to have all the political prisoners released, and last week, 18 of them, including Olivia Lutaaya, pleaded guilty and are yet to serve a light sentence of four months and then after will be released after spending over four years in prison.
To many people, the political prisoners who pleaded guilty and implicated NUP leaders for engaging them in subversive activities may be seen as a sellout and not welcome at the party headquarters. Nevertheless, to Kyagulanyi, four years is a long time for someone who is wrongfully incarcerated, and for them to plead guilty even when they are not just to get their freedom is very understandable, and anyone could have taken the same decision.
