Butambala MP Accuses Security Forces of Deadly Raid on His Home
Butambala County MP Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi has publicly accused security forces of conducting a violent night raid at his residence, resulting in the deaths of several supporters. The incident, which he alleges was an attempt on his life, occurred during the tallying of results from the January 15 general elections.
Speaking from his home in Bugoye village, Gombe Sub-county, Kivumbi stated that armed men, some in military and police uniforms and others in plain clothes, stormed his property late at night. He claimed they opened fire on people who had gathered peacefully after preliminary results suggested he was winning the parliamentary race.
“They were killed inside my house,” Kivumbi said. “I was the target.”
He explained that his supporters had run into his garage for safety when the forces began firing into the air, and that the shooting continued. Kivumbi said he survived by hiding in a room and believes the operation aimed to arrest or kill him, or to seize election materials.
The MP strongly denied police allegations that he mobilized supporters to attack a police station and tally centre with machetes. “There is no police station in this village,” he countered. “Is my home now a police station?”
He claims to possess CCTV footage showing security personnel firing at his gate and later searching for bodies, and has called for an independent investigation.
Police have offered a starkly different account. Katonga Region Police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe stated that violence erupted after supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) caused chaos, including attempted attacks on a tally centre and a police station. Police reported that seven people were shot dead during this unrest.
Emotionally, Kivumbi declared, “Winning the election is no longer important to me. What matters is that innocent people lost their lives in my home.”
He revealed plans to pursue the matter in court and expressed living in fear of arrest or abduction but vowed not to go into hiding.
The contested violence followed last Thursday’s polls, where Kivumbi ultimately lost the Butambala parliamentary seat to former Sunday Monitor editor Eriasa Mukiibi, who ran as an independent.
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