The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) have formally denied detaining opposition activist Sam Mugumya, telling the High Court that extensive checks across all military detention facilities have yielded no trace of him.
In a sworn return to a writ of habeas corpus, Lt. Col. Edgar Musasizi, the Director of Civil Affairs at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, said he had conducted inquiries on behalf of the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and the Directorate of Defence Intelligence and Security.
His findings, filed on September 11, 2025, state that Mugumya has “not at any material time been in the custody of the respondents.”
“We have searched all relevant detention facilities’ records and found no entry relating to the said Sam Mugumya between 26th August 2025 and to date,” Musasizi wrote.
“We caused inquiries to be made in all detention facilities under the command of the 1st and 2nd respondents and no officer… has knowledge of the said Sam Mugumya. I therefore confirm that he is not within our custody, and we do not know about his whereabouts.”
The statement was filed in response to a High Court order issued earlier this month after members of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, demanding that the Army produce Mugumya. Justice Collins Acellam ruled that the state must account for his disappearance, underscoring that habeas corpus is a constitutional safeguard against unlawful detention.
Mugumya, a long-time opposition activist and former aide to Dr. Kizza Besigye, was reportedly arrested on August 26, 2025, in Mbarara. His lawyers claim he was taken by security operatives to a facility in Mbuya, Kampala, and has since been held incommunicado without access to legal counsel or family.
This is not the first time Mugumya has clashed with state authorities. In 2014, he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and accused of plotting rebellion. He spent nearly eight years in detention before being released in 2022, later joining the People’s Front for Freedom.
The UPDF’s denial has done little to ease concerns within the opposition. PFF leaders maintain that the Army must know more than it admits, pointing to the timing of his disappearance and his rising political profile as an aspiring MP for Rukungiri Municipality.
“Simply saying they don’t have him is not enough. The state must tell us where Sam is,” a PFF official told reporters outside court.
Rights organizations have expressed alarm, describing Mugumya’s disappearance as part of a larger pattern of enforced disappearances in Uganda. They argue that the case will be a litmus test for the judiciary’s ability to hold security agencies accountable.
The High Court has given the state a strict deadline to either produce Mugumya or provide a satisfactory explanation of his whereabouts. With the Army maintaining it has searched “everywhere,” the pressure now shifts to whether other security organs will step forward with answers.
For Mugumya’s family, supporters, and political allies, the unanswered question remains: Where is Sam Mugumya?
