By Aggrey Baba
In a heated verbal exchange on CBS FM, senior lawyer and Jinja East MP-elect Paul Mwiru accused Mawokota South’s outgoing MP Yusuf Nsibambi of defending the NRM government’s human rights violations and blaming victims after Nsibambi condemned the National Unity Platform (NUP) for selfishly inciting the youth during the 2026 elections.
The exchange came after Nsibambi, on Saturday, faulted NUP for using its “protest vote” campaign slogan of kanonye, kalonde, kakuume, kabanje, which urged supporters to solicit votes, vote, protect their votes, and demand victory if results were rigged. Nsibambi argued that the campaign encouraged young people to protest, leaving them vulnerable to arrests and violence while senior party leaders, including NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), remained safe.
Mwiru rejected these claims, describing Nsibambi’s remarks as “blaming the victim and defending the culprits,” saying thay NUP leaders, including Kyagulanyi, faced serious threats, with arrests and abductions targeting senior party figures such as Lina Zedriga, Muwanga Kivumbin, among others, and military raids on Kyagulanyi’s home in Magere.
Mwiru added that he himself was threatened during post-election disputes at the Jinja tally centre, where EC officials together with NRM bigwigs warned the lawyer that if he continued challenging results that did not match the party’s declaration of result (DR) forms, he could be framed like Kivumbi.
“I was told that if I continued questioning results that were not tallying with our declaration forms, I would be framed like Muwanga Kivumbi,” Mwiru said, adding that he refused to leave the tally centre in order to make sure that results of other NUP candidates were not tampered with.
On the rejection of EC’s declared results, Mwiru said NUP rejected the results because the Electora EC had allegedly lost control of the process to the military. He claimed that more than 1,000 NUP foot soldiers were arrested during and after the elections, with over 800 still in detention.
He added that the EC’s refusal to provide the Kavule political outfit with tally sheets prevented the party from pursuing legal challenges, as provided by law, effectively blocking the constitutional process to contest results in ten (10) days after declaration according to article 57 of the presidential election act.
He also dismissed criticism of Kyagulanyi’s silence and disappearance after the elections, noting that the party president’s safety was at risk amid the arrests and abductions of his deputies. Mwiru suggested Nsibambi’s remarks were politically motivated and possibly driven by frustration after losing his own election. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
