Former Leader of the Opposition Mathias Mpuuga has announced his intention to take National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi to court over accusations linking him to the imprisonment of former Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya.
This comes a day after Kyagulanyi publicly challenged Makindye West MP Allan Ssewanyana to disclose who was responsible for the jailing of both Ssegirinya and himself in 2021.
On Tuesday at the NUP headquarters, responding to Kyagulanyi's remarks, Ssewanyana alleged that Mpuuga and other leaders from Masaka were behind their incarceration.
In response, Mpuuga, addressing journalists at Parliament, dismissed the allegations as completely unfounded, accusing Kyagulanyi of leading a smear campaign against him.
He confirmed his intention to take legal action to hold Kyagulanyi and Ssewanyana accountable for their claims.
“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 and the best place for them to help the nation understand it better is the court,” Mpuuga stated.
Mpuuga also criticized Kyagulanyi for attempting to divert Ugandans’ focus from their desire for change.
“So, 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. I tried to encourage him to be strong, I failed, I was fought,” Mpuuga added.
Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana were arrested in 2021 and spent 524 days in prison on charges related to a series of machete murders that left at least 26 people dead in greater Masaka in mid-2021.
They were granted cash bail of Shs20 million on February 13, 2023, by the High Court in Masaka.
Following their release, rumors circulated that negotiations between the state and NUP, where Mpuuga served as deputy president for Buganda, may have played a role in securing the pair’s freedom.
However, Kyagulanyi later denied these claims, asserting that any such negotiations, if they occurred, were done without his consent.