By Aggrey Baba
Last week, NUP activists Sauda Madada and Anthony Agaba (Bobi Young) were released from prison after spending prolonged periods in detention, with former Kawempe North MP Hajji Latif Ssebagala now claiming that their freedom is partly a result of the political dialogue he and his colleagues have been pursuing with President Yoweri Museveni.
Madada was released on September 19 after more than a year in custody, while Bobi Young was released two days earlier after spending more than two years in detention. Their release has since been cited by Ssebagala as evidence that his Dialogue for Peace Initiative is beginning to yield results.
Speaking to Mulengera News on Tuesday, Ssebagala said one of the people at the centre of their campaign is former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, whom he recently visited in Luzira Prison.
“Erias Lukwago is one of the people I have closely moved with in this journey of politics, and his detention and other political prisoners alike are one of the reasons we decided to engage the President,” Ssebagala said.
Lukwago has been in Luzira after being charged with misprision of treason, a charge he denies, and has continued to challenge his detention through the courts.
Ssebagala said he visited Lukwago because the two have a long political relationship dating back to their work in different political engagements.
He said their dialogue initiative was formed on the belief that political detainees cannot be released through courtroom battles alone, insisting that direct engagement with Museveni is also necessary.
“There’s no way the Opposition people should think that political prisoners will be released just by them wearing suits and going to court,” he said, arguing that political questions sometimes require political dialogue.
Ssebagala said their engagement with Museveni has already produced results, pointing to the recent release of Madada and Bobi Young.
He claimed that his group has compiled a list of people arrested during and after the 2021 elections and that several have quietly been released without attracting public attention because they are not well-known figures.
He said their next target is to push for the release of high-profile detainees, including Lukwago, Muwanga Kivumbi and Dr Kizza Besigye.
“Dialogue is a process, and it involves engagements. President Museveni has dialogued with very many people,” Ssebagala said, citing the late Gen. Moses Ali as an example of someone who once fought the government but later sat at the same table with Museveni.
Ssebagala maintained that the initiative will continue engaging government, saying he expects more political detainees to be released before the end of the year. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
