National Unity Platform president Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, has penned a letter to influential elders from the Ankole and Kigezi regions, accusing First Son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba of fuelling tribalism and state-sponsored violence.
Dated May 6 and widely circulated on social media, the letter warns that silence from respected elders could amount to complicity in “looming disaster.”
Addressing individuals such as former ministers Matthew Rukikaire and Mary Karooro Okurut, ex-Justice Bart Katureebe, and prominent religious figures, Kyagulanyi urges them to speak out against what he describes as “barbaric, reckless impunity” perpetrated in the name of their ethnicity.
“Muhoozi has committed various crimes against humanity including violent abductions and torture as well as the mass killing of over 150 citizens which he commandeered between November 18 and 19 2020,” the letter reads, referencing the deadly protests triggered by Kyagulanyi’s arrest during the 2021 presidential campaign.
Although Gen. Muhoozi has not been formally implicated in the killings, he was the commander of the military police at the time.
Kyagulanyi also draws attention to the recent re-abduction and alleged torture of his bodyguard Edward Ssebuufu, known as Eddie Mutwe.
He accuses Muhoozi of degrading Ssebuufu publicly through social media. “He posted a shocking picture of him – naked and visibly tortured, and boasted of forcefully shaving off his beard and turning him into his punching bag,” Kyagulanyi claims.
Beyond individual cases, the NUP leader alleges a pattern of ethnic humiliation targeting Baganda.
“Many, while being tortured, have been told to call the Kabaka to save them, and to sing Ekitibwa kya Buganda while replacing ‘Sabassajja Kabaka’ with ‘Ssabalwaanyi Museveni,’” he writes, suggesting that torture has been turned into a form of ethnic mockery.
Calling on the elders to take a moral stand regardless of political allegiance, Kyagulanyi writes: “Even if they do not listen to you, you will have gone on record and discharged your moral duty.”
In a follow-up post on X, formerly Twitter, he added: “They have a moral duty to disassociate themselves from the criminality committed in the name of their tribe, and perhaps help save our nation from a terrible situation.”