A group of renowned FDC diehards have attacked police’s handling of MP Betty Nambooze and also tasked security agencies to release their colleagues arrested in recent protests against government.
Nambooze was arrested recently but her health condition deteriorated while detained at Naggalama police post, prompting police to take her to Kiruddu hospital for treatment.
She is still bedridden there but police recently got a court order to seize her phone and laptop.
Meanwhile, Ssali’s whereabouts remain unknown since his arrest back in January…..
While addressing the media during at Manhattan hotel in Mengo, Habib Buwembo, the FDC Secretary for Labour, warned that they’ve given parliament a three-day ultimatum to use its powers and have Nambooze released unconditionally.
“Hon Nambooze is a respected member of society and should have been treated decently but this inhumane way she has been exposed to shames everyone involved,” he said.
“We are going to mobilise our colleagues to march on the streets and force police to let her regain her rights and seek specialised medical treatment. If Nambooze could be treated that way, what of an ordinary person?”
At the same press conference, another FDC activist Juma Lubega Kabotongo, also the Lubaga division councillor for Kabowa 1, said some of their colleagues are unaccounted for after being arrested during various protests.
“Ssali and other colleagues such as Asadi Bogere, Sadat Bukenya and Joseph Ssenkumba, who were arrested in December at the height of the age limit campaigns. But up to now, we have not seen or heard from them since,” he says.
“At first we suspected they were being held at the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) in Kireka but we were then told they are being held at Nalufenya. However, it is now almost a month since the new Inspector General of Police closed the facility but we haven’t seen them being produced in court. So, we call upon security agencies to either produce them before court or release them, failure of which we will announce our next step.”
Also in attendance was Henry Kasule, Ssali’s brother, who said police must produce him in court. “We have moved all police stations without success and our fear is that he could be linked to rebel activities,” he says.
Reached out for a comment, Patrick Onyango, the deputy police spokesperson, denied knowledge of the force’s detention of said activists and promised to crosscheck with respective organs.
