3 NRM 'mobilisers' remanded for obstructing Museveni's motorcade

Three ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) mobilisers have been remanded by Entebbe Magistrate's court for obstructing President Yoweri Museveni's motorcade and endangering their lives.

The trio including Florence Nakayovu, Innocent Mwesigwa, and Manisur Ainomugisha appeared Friday before the Entebbe grade one magistrate, Stella Okwong Paculal after spending three days in custody at Entebbe police station.   

The prosecution alleges that on March 7, 2023, the trio put their lives in harm’s way near State House Entebbe when they stood in the middle of the road in an attempt to stop the presidential motorcade. After hearing the charges, Nakayovu raised her hand in an attempt to explain that they had no ill intentions of harming the president or themselves.  

Okwong entered a plea of no guilt. Nakayovu later raised her arm to apply for bail but the magistrate explained she had not time to hear the application as it was getting late and there were other cases to handle. She remanded the trio to prison until April 12, 2023, when they will make their bail application. 

Before they were charged, Nakayovu explained that there are attempts to silence them after Museveni reportedly rewarded them for mobilizing for him support during the 2021 presidential campaigns but his handlers misappropriated the money.  

She said that the president first gave them an audience in November last year at Katabi when they stopped him to inform him of their grievances. That time they were eleven including Robinah Nambirige, Happy Kobugabe, Shira Kemigisha, Hadijah Nanyonjo, Rose Chandiru, Shira Nakazibwe, Isma Ssekiranda, and James Ganja. The president reportedly stressed they should not add any more people to their team and commended them for supporting him.

He asked them to give their small-scale business proposals to Maj Betty Agaba to follow up with her. He also reportedly ordered those handling security that they should not subject them to any ill-treatment. However, as soon as the president left, they were reportedly taken off the scene and thoroughly beaten and some got hospitalized and sustained scars which they showed to our reporter. 

They were reportedly asked never to talk about it once released. When they got in touch with Maj Agaba, she reportedly kept promising them until she cut off communication completely. When they used unusual telephone numbers to trace her, she reportedly become hostile and told them never to call her number again.  

“So we decided to seek an audience with the president again to ensure we get the things he promised and gave us but which have not received. That is why they arrested us and brought us to court. We are not rebels against the government,” Nakayovu said.

James Ganja, part of the eleven that the president met in Katabi said they were part of a group dubbed "NRM youths with a mission" that operated around junctions and trading centres in Kampala and Wakiso districts, donning yellow overalls and dry banana leaves to counter opposition dominance in cosmopolitan areas. 

Sometimes they enlisted protection from the military to survive opposition hostility but it is unfortunate the president’s handlers have treated them this way, which may force them to abandon the cause in future elections. Our reporter was unable to independently verify the suspect's claims and their role on the Museveni campaign trail.