The search for missing party supporters has been reopened by National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine.
Some of the people went missing during the 2021 presidential campaigns, others were picked up months later.
Many have never been seen again and family members and friends have lost hope whether they are alive or dead.
In a series of tweets, Kyagulanyi asked the relevant authorities "bring back" the missing NUP supporters.
https://twitter.com/hebobiwine/status/1573928743717961729?s=21&t=N6Ym7lezcsS9NMmd8Ss_dQ
He went on to profile some of them"
"John Ddamulira, a 50-year-old proprietor of a hardware store, is one of the missing people who Kyagulanyi emphasized in his search. allegedly had a shop in Kisekka Market when he was detained in November 2020. Since then, nobody has known where he is.
“WHERE IS HE? On 21st Nov. 2020, Ddamulira John, 50 was abducted by armed security operatives from his shop in Kisekka market. Police confirmed they took him. Gen. Museveni read his name amongst those "arrested". Close to 2 years, no one knows where he is, or if he's alive or dead," Kyagulanyi said in a tweet.
In 2020, Patrick Onyango, a spokesman for the Kampala Metropolitan Police, confirmed Ddamulira and many other people's arrests and claimed they had taken part in demonstrations in the area surrounding Kampala Metropolitan.
Onyango vehemently refuted any allegations of torture at the time. In addition, he declined to mention the location of their detention.
“It is true, he is one of the people we arrested, but I cannot tell you where he is… we did not torture any person,” Onyango told reporters then.
According to Kyagulanyi, Ddamulira's family still doesn't know where their "breadwinner" is after two years.
Ddamulira is not the only victim.
Kyagulanyi wrote that on June 3, 2019, John Bosco Kibalama, who was 39 at the time, was also kidnapped from the streets along Gayaza Road by men brandishing guns.
"Nobody has any idea where he is as of yet. He was a proponent of People Power long before the movement became the NUP," Kyagulanyi wrote.
Since 2020, NUP has made demands for their missing followers, some of whom they claim were jailed and kidnapped.
The party began registering missing people after receiving complaints and pleas from worried relatives.
Following the violent episodes that defined the general election of 2021, the party claimed that parents and relatives had gotten in touch with them.
The party published a list of 243 supporters in 2021 who they said were periodically missing. The party stated at the time that there were over 458 persons missing.
Jeje Odongo, the Internal Affairs minister at the time, presented a list of 177 people who were missing to Parliament, but Kyagulanyi said that only 89 of the people in his records were included on the government's list.
Later that year, President Museveni said in a televised address that individuals thought to have vanished were alive and in the care of security personnel.
Some of the prisoners were to receive unconditional releases, according to Museveni.
Since then, some of the missing individuals have been charged in court and freed on a police bond.
