Former Butambala County MP Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi has been re-arrested in Mpigi district, barely a day after the International Crimes Division of the High court granted him bail.
The circumstances surrounding the arrest remain unclear, and authorities had not issued an official statement by press time.
However, National Unity Platform (NUP) lawyer Samuel Muyizzi, who is part of Kivumbi’s defence team, confirmed that the former MP was arrested in Mpigi town on Friday afternoon while returning to Kampala from Butambala.
“It is true he was returning to Kampala from Butambala where he spent the night,” Muyizzi said. “As we were driving through Mpigi, a drone was driven into the middle of the road, and they picked him up and drove him away at high speed. We have not known his whereabouts since.”
Kivumbi was granted bail on Thursday after spending nearly seven months on remand. He was arrested on January 22, 2026, in connection with violence that followed the January 15 general elections.
According to the prosecution, between January 11 and 17, 2026, in Kibibi and Gombe town councils, Kivumbi and others allegedly carried out acts intended to intimidate the government for political purposes.
The charges include alleged attacks on Kibibi Police Station and the Butambala Electoral Commission tally centre, damage to the Butambala-Gomba Road, and destruction of vehicles.
Prosecutors further allege that seven people were killed during the incidents. Kivumbi was initially arraigned before the Butambala Chief Magistrate’s court and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The case was later expanded to include 24 other suspects.
His lawyers, Erias Lukwago, Samuel Muyizzi and Kenneth Paul Kakande, subsequently applied for bail before the High court, seeking his release pending trial.
In granting bail on Thursday, Justice Susan Okalany cited Kivumbi’s fixed place of residence, the suitability of his sureties and the prosecution’s failure to demonstrate that he would interfere with ongoing investigations.
Although the reason for Friday’s re-arrest had not been disclosed by the authorities, some of Kivumbi’s associates suspect it may be linked to sharp remarks he made yesterday evening after returning to Butambala, in which he criticised the First Family and former speaker Anita Among.
Kivumbi told his supporters that Uganda’s current political decay and crisis has mostly been caused by four people: Among, President Yoweri Museveni, his wife Janet Museveni and son, also Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. However, he said nature has started taking its course, and one by one they will soon be no more.
He also criticised Muhoozi for what he called pretending to fight corruption using his political outfit, Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), whilst breaking the law. He said PLU was illegally founded and Muhoozi, as CDF, is not supposed to participate in partisan politics.
He said prison had strengthened his resolve to fight for a better country for everybody and that even if he were to be killed by the state, he’s happy that many young people are willing to fight to regain control of the country from the Museveni family.
Kivumbi, who serves as the National Unity Platform vice president for Buganda, lost the Butambala parliamentary seat in the January general elections.