KAMPALA– Ms Rukia Namuwanga, a Woman Councillor for Bwaise I, II and III and a resident of Kazo Central zone who was allegedly kidnapped on Monday September 7 7 has resurfaced, police have confirmed.
According to Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango, Namuwanga resurfaced last evening in Wobulenzi in Luwero district.
“She alleges that on Monday, she left her home at 9 am going to the nearby pharmacy to buy drugs,” he said in a statement.
However Onyango says the person who reported her case of disappearance informed police that she went missing at 6am which contradicts with Namuwanga’s statement.
Onyango said the victim claims she bought the drugs and when she was returning home, she allegedly met a woman holding a knife and order her to enter the vehicle which was nearby.
“She doesn’t recognize the woman or the number plate of the vehicle.Inside the vehicle, she alleges that there were two men who blindfolded her and they drove off,” Onyango reported.
He added that, “According to her, they reached a certain place, where her captors removed the piece of cloth from her face. The captors gave her yellow bananas and a tablet. She ate the banana but refused to take the tablet.”
He further noted that Namuwanga revealed she was allegedly forced to take it and after taking it she became unconscious.
“At the time she regained conscious, she realised that she was in a bush and she was weak. She managed to gather energy to walk up to the road where she met a woman and she asked the woman to take her to the Chairperson LC I,” reads the statement in part.
“The LCI called Police of Wobulenzi that picked her from his home.
Police in Wobulenzi got in touch with Kawempe and she was brought to Kawempe Police Station where she made a brief statement and Police directed that she should go for medical treatment,” the statement reads further.
Onyango said police noticed that the clothes, she was putting on were very clean not for someone who has spent two days in the bush.
“We are still investigating a case of kidnap,” he noted.
On Tuesday, FDC alleged that the State has a hand in her disappearance.
“Our sources indicate that she was abducted in the wee hours of yesterday morning from her home in Kazo – Bwaise, Kawempe Division by plain clothed security. Kawempe South MP Hon. Munyagwa Mubarak and other leaders tried to reach her out but found out that her phones were left in her house as the security men took her away,” FDC president Patrick Amuriat said in a statement.
“We suspect that she was abducted because of her opposition political views and activities. We don’t expect this to happen in any a country that claims to be democratic. We see this as an infringement on the inalienable rights of Councilor Namwanga’s to assemble, speak and belong to a Political Party like the FDC. FDC isn’t an outlawed society. The abduction of Councilor Namwanga is a clear depiction of what we should expect in the coming election and we strongly condemn this. To keep her in ungazzeted sites is a pure violation of her political and human rights,” he added.
