Opposition calls for fresh investigations into 2021 election violence

Members of the shadow cabinet have called for fresh investigations into the alleged human rights violations that characterised the 2021 general elections.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday,the Shadow Minister for Security, Derrick Nyeko said that despite undertakings by the government, opposition supporters continue to be arrested.

He said that in the absence of a conclusive investigation report on the violations that characterised the 2021 general elections, the opposition leadership had resolved to lobby Parliament to institute a select committee to investigate the abuses.

"We shall move a motion on the floor of Parliament for fresh investigations into the various forms of human rights abuses including murders, abductions and torture of our people who are held by different security units," Nyeko said.

The call for a fresh investigation comes barely a month after the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah told MPs that all business of the 10th Parliament that remained incomplete, lapsed when the term of that Parliament came to an end.

This, therefore, affected a report that had been compiled by the Human Rights Committee which had investigated the human rights abuses that were witnessed in the 2021 general elections.

He said that the opposition leadership in Parliament is not taking the continued arrests of opposition supporters lightly.

"We want to ask the state to respect the rule of law and constitutionalism," Nyeko said.

"It is too sad that Gen Museveni praised the actions of the SFC [Special Forces Command] for kidnapping Ugandans many of whom have not been seen again several months after their abduction," he added.

Nyeko told journalists that security operatives have since continued to target opposition supporters and linking them to the killings.