Police have revealed that the recently arrested leader of the opposition party National Economic Empowerment Dialogue(NEED), Joseph Kabuleta is being held on charges of promoting sectarianism.
According to police, Kabuleta's charges stem from statements he uttered on May 30, 2022, on tribal lines and service delivery.
Kabuleta was picked up by plain-clothed operatives on Monday afternoon at his party offices in Bugolobi, Kampala, and detained at the Criminal Investigations Directorate(CID).
The Deputy Police Spokesperson, Claire Nabakka, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon stating that Kabuleta was arrested after he failed to honor the summons to appear at CID for statement recording as directed on November 03, 2022.
She says that Kabuleta is accused of uttering statements in a press conference at his offices indicating that service delivery in Mbarara is based on ethnic lines.
She says these statements created disaffection and promoted feelings of ill will or hostility among members of the public.
“They alleged that social service delivery in Mbarara is based on ethnic lines of the Tutsi, Bahima, Bakiga, and Banyakore. Kabuleta and others shall be charged with Promoting Sectarianism C/S 41(1) of the PCA CAP 120,” the statement reads in part.
Kabuleta’s lawyers led by Ivan Bowe told journalists that his client was arrested in a manner that violates his human rights and he has since been denied access to him.
“How people are being arrested, where you take them, and equally states their rights. What security agencies did was illegal and now denying us, his family, and doctors access to him is a total violation of his rights,” Bowe said.
