Former aide to Dr. Kizza Besigye, Sam Mugumya, has announced his intention to contest for the Rukungiri Municipality parliamentary seat on the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) ticket.
He is expected to face stiff competition, including from former presidential candidate Gen. Henry Tumukunde.
Mugumya, who was released in 2022 after spending eight years in detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is making a political comeback, positioning himself as a voice for justice and democracy.
Mugumya was arrested on October 21, 2014, for allegedly entering the DRC illegally. At the time, Uganda’s then Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa claimed that Mugumya had traveled to the DRC to “pronounce rebellion” against the Ugandan government. According to Kutesa, Mugumya had admitted to using false identities and entering the DRC with the intention of waging war against a “brotherly government.”
Despite efforts by both the FDC party and the Ugandan government, the DRC declined to extradite Mugumya, citing the lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries. Mugumya was reportedly held along with four other Ugandans, although the identities of three of them were never made public.
In 2016, then Minister of International Relations Henry Okello Oryem informed Parliament that Mugumya was still being held under terms outlined in the Ngurdoto Agreement, a 2007 bilateral arrangement between Uganda and the DRC that prohibits either country from supporting subversive activities on the other’s territory.
Several legal and political efforts were made to secure Mugumya’s release. FDC leaders consistently campaigned for him, while human rights lawyer Adam Kyomuhendo petitioned the East African Court of Justice to block the DRC’s admission into the East African Community (EAC), arguing that Mugumya’s prolonged detention without trial violated human rights.
Mugumya rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a political activist closely aligned with Dr. Kizza Besigye. Alongside current Buhweju MP Francis Mwijukye, he was often seen at the forefront of FDC demonstrations.
A graduate of Makerere University, where he studied political science, Mugumya served as Secretary General of the FDC Youth League and later became personal assistant to Dr. Besigye. He was a key figure in the Activists for Change (A4C) pressure group and a notable leader during the “Walk to Work” protests in 2011, often shielding Besigye from security forces during brutal crackdowns.
With his re-entry into mainstream politics, Mugumya’s campaign is expected to energize progressive and youth voters in Rukungiri Municipality especially those seeking a candidate with a long history of activism and resilience.
