Former Leader of the Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga, has declared plans to take legal action against National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, over allegations linking him to the 2021 imprisonment of former Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya.
Mpuuga’s announcement follows a recent exchange triggered by Kyagulanyi’s public challenge to Makindye West MP Allan Ssewanyana to reveal who was behind the incarceration of both himself and Ssegirinya.
Responding on Tuesday at the NUP headquarters, Ssewanyana accused Mpuuga and other leaders from Masaka of orchestrating their arrest.
Addressing journalists at Parliament on Wednesday, Mpuuga dismissed the claims as baseless and part of what he described as a “smear campaign” by Kyagulanyi to tarnish his image. He vowed to seek redress in court to compel his accusers to substantiate their statements.
“Probably they will help court and families that are demanding justice to go and tell court what they know because they seem to know a bit of what happened in Masaka. The best place to help the nation understand it better is the court,” Mpuuga said.
He further accused Kyagulanyi of sowing division within the opposition and distracting Ugandans from the broader goal of political change.
“I wish them luck but I encourage again Ugandans who want to see a new Uganda not to give up, not to be diverted. We know the task that Mr Kyagulanyi was given but I think some Ugandans were not clear about it,” he said.
Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana were arrested in 2021 in connection to a wave of machete killings in greater Masaka that left at least 26 people dead. They spent 524 days in prison before being released on bail in February 2023.
Speculation has persisted that behind-the-scenes negotiations between the state and NUP officials—among them Mpuuga, who served as NUP’s deputy president for Buganda—paved the way for their release. Kyagulanyi, however, has distanced himself from any such talks, saying they occurred without his knowledge or approval.
The growing rift between top opposition leaders threatens to further fracture Uganda’s largest opposition party ahead of the 2026 general elections.
