Taken on Air: Charles Rwomushana Seized from Radio Simba Studio in Broad Daylight, Whereabouts Still Unknown

KAMPALA — He was mid-sentence on a live political talk show when they came for him.

At approximately 10:30 on Saturday morning, September 5, 2026, roughly thirty minutes into Radio Simba’s weekly current affairs programme Gasimbagane ne Bannamawulire — loosely translated as “Face Off with Journalists” — a group of plainclothes security operatives entered the station’s premises at Plot 2, Corporation Rise in Kampala’s Bukoto neighbourhood, put the security guards at gunpoint, pushed through to the studios and removed political analyst Charles Rwomushana.

He was wearing a red shirt and clutching a notebook. He did not resist. He was escorted through the lobby and placed in a waiting vehicle. He has not been seen since.

As of Sunday, September 6, 2026, neither the police, the military nor any other government security agency has officially confirmed his detention, disclosed his location or given any explanation for why he was taken.

**What Happened Inside the Station**

Eyewitnesses and station staff gave consistent accounts of what transpired. According to Plus News Uganda, approximately ten security operatives in civilian clothes and armed with guns stormed the station and ordered security guards to stand aside before forcing their way into the studios. Video footage that circulated widely on social media showed at least four of the operatives — one visibly carrying an assault rifle — escorting Rwomushana through the station’s lobby. A journalist at the station told The Investigator News: “Rwomushana was whisked away at a breakneck speed. We can’t establish where he has been jailed.”

Radio Simba confirmed mid-morning Saturday that Rwomushana had been removed from its premises. The programme continued without him.

Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told Daily Monitor on Sunday that he had not yet been briefed on the case. “I haven’t received a brief yet. However, once I get information about the details behind his arrest, I will communicate,” he said. Calls to UPDF spokesperson Col Chris Magezi went unanswered. Matthew Bagonza — head of the Secretariat of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development and an aide to Odrek Rwabwogo — had been seized by armed men in similar fashion two weeks earlier. His whereabouts also remain unknown.

**What He Had Said — and What Was Said About Him**

Three days before his abduction, Rwomushana had appeared on BBS Terefayina, where he discussed General Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s recent declaration that he intends to run for the presidency in 2031, and claims that President Museveni had endorsed his son and would serve as his chief campaigner. A clip from that appearance was posted on X by Rwomushana himself.

Shortly after his abduction, Daudi Kabanda — head of the office of the Chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda, the political movement closely associated with General Muhoozi — reposted a clip of that BBS appearance on X with a single comment: “Be careful.” An X account whose profile picture featured General Kainerugaba had previously replied to one of Rwomushana’s posts with the message: “Any time you will be picked.”

Former government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo made light of the reports on social media, posting that Rwomushana had reportedly gone “to learn Dhopadhola” under a tree shade somewhere in Uganda — a flippant remark that drew sharp criticism online and added an additional layer of controversy to what was already a deeply alarming incident.

**The Besigye Connection**

The most significant dimension of the Rwomushana case — and the one most likely to explain his detention — is his reported link to the ongoing treason trial of Dr Kizza Besigye.

The Investigator News reported that Rwomushana’s name appears in prosecution evidence relating to alleged meetings held in Europe — specifically referenced as Brussels — at which the State claims discussions took place about efforts to overthrow the Ugandan government by force of arms. Those alleged meetings form part of the broader treason case against Besigye and his co-accused Obeid Lutale, which opened at the High Court in Kampala in July 2026. Rwomushana — a former Member of Parliament for Rubumbura County and a former head of the political intelligence desk in the President’s Office before he emerged as a government critic — has never publicly responded to any such allegations.

His abduction from Radio Simba on September 5, two months after the treason trial formally opened, is now widely interpreted in Ugandan legal and political circles as directly connected to the prosecution’s effort to interview or secure witnesses and persons of interest named in its evidence.

**A Pattern That Has Become a Crisis**

What makes the Rwomushana abduction remarkable — and what makes it alarming — is not just the individual case. It is the pattern it represents.

In recent months, Uganda has witnessed the military abduction of Erias Lukwago from his home in Wakaliga while serving as Besigye’s lead defence counsel. It has witnessed Kenyan Senior Counsel Martha Karua barred from the country entirely. It has witnessed the arrest and imprisonment of journalist Timothy Kalyegira. It has witnessed the raid on the home of former Minister Miria Matembe, her subsequent arrest on sectarianism charges, and her appearance before court walking, in her own words, crawling.

Former Kampala Deputy Lord Mayor Doreen Nyanjura responded to Saturday’s abduction with a post that captured the sentiment of a growing number of Ugandans watching the pattern unfold. “Charles Rwomushana forcefully taken from the Radio Simba studios by unidentified armed operatives,” she wrote. “When lawlessness becomes the norm, everyone on this sinking ship is at risk.”

NUP Secretary General David Rubongoya was among the first to raise alarm: “Charles Rwomushana grabbed out of Simba Radio studios by armed men in civilian clothes? Whatever is not happening in Uganda!”

Media freedom organisations and human rights defenders called on Saturday for authorities to immediately disclose Rwomushana’s location, confirm his legal status and ensure his access to medical care and legal representation.

As of Sunday morning, none of those calls had been answered.

SOURCE DAILY MONITOR