The High Court is due to decide whether security agencies must produce Butambala County MP Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi after lawyers challenged the circumstances surrounding his disappearance following a reported rearrest.
The habeas corpus application seeks orders requiring police and the military to account for the National Unity Platform legislator’s whereabouts.
During proceedings on Tuesday, the State acknowledged through a police affidavit that Kivumbi had been arrested at a security checkpoint in Mpigi but insisted he was no longer being held by police.
Lawyers argued that the government’s position had changed significantly within days.
“It is rather disturbing. Just four days ago, the Attorney General was clearly stating that the ministers responsible were finding a means of resolving it. Now today, the same Attorney General comes holding another affidavit saying that whereas the police apprehended Honorable Muwanga Kivumbi at Mpigi, they do not have him within their custody,” lawyer Samuel Muyizi told the court.
The defence team said repeated searches at police detention facilities yielded no information about the MP’s whereabouts.
Muyizi maintained that attention had now shifted to the military because it had yet to respond to the application.
“The police have been consistent that they don’t have him within their custody. But now that we filed the matter against the military and they have not responded, we believe very strongly that Honorable Muwanga Kivumbi is in the hands of the military.”
Lawyer Medard Lubega Sseggona alleged that Kivumbi was receiving treatment at a military hospital, although that claim has not been independently confirmed.
Kivumbi had been granted bail on 9 July after spending 169 days on remand over terrorism charges before reportedly being rearrested a day later.
