By Spy Uganda
Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi has spoken out after visiting his long-time aide and comrade, Eddie Mutwe, who is currently detained at Masaka Main Prison. In a harrowing statement following the visit, Bobi Wine recounted what he described as “barbaric and inhuman” acts of torture inflicted upon Mutwe during his incommunicado detention.
“We just returned from Masaka Main Prison, where we checked on our comrades Eddie Mutwe, Achileo Kivumbi, Mugumya Gaddafi, and Wakabi Grace,” Bobi Wine said. “Eddie Mutwe is alive – that’s the only good news.”
According to Wine, Eddie Mutwe detailed a horrifying ordeal marked by extreme physical and psychological abuse. He was reportedly electrocuted, waterboarded, and beaten repeatedly — with much of the violence targeted at his most vulnerable parts. “They squeezed his private parts and hit them with a baton,” Wine stated. “They tied his arms with handcuffs and stepped on them until they dug into his skin.”
The abuse, he said, went on daily, beginning early in the morning. Mutwe was given only one meal a day, consisting of beans and posho, and denied clean drinking water. When he asked for water, his captors allegedly told him to drink from the dirty, blood-tainted water he was forced to sit in.
Perhaps most chillingly, Wine alleges that General Muhoozi Kainerugaba — the son of President Yoweri Museveni — visited on the third day of the detention and personally took part in the torture. “He challenged Eddie to fight him — a man in handcuffs — if he thinks he is strong,” Wine recounted.
In an attempt to psychologically humiliate him, Mutwe was forced to wear a T-shirt bearing President Museveni’s image and made to kneel at gunpoint while swearing allegiance to both Museveni and his son. The captors allegedly recorded the act, cut his beard violently, and stripped him naked for photographs.
The torture also included cultural humiliation. Mutwe, who does not speak Runyakore — the language of Uganda’s ruling elite — was mocked and beaten for his ignorance of the dialect. “They would ask him questions in Runyakore and laugh at him before beating him again,” Wine said.
The beatings, particularly to his feet, left Mutwe barely able to walk. “It was like I had elephantiasis,” he told Wine and the family members who accompanied him — his wife, mother, and his eight-month-old baby. Mutwe reportedly broke down emotionally during the visit and could not continue sharing his experience. “Every time he closes his eyes, he sees these monsters approaching him,” Wine said, adding that Mutwe now suffers from severe sleep disturbances.
Mutwe was also injected with unknown substances on three occasions, raising fears about his long-term health. Despite all this, he and his co-accused remain incarcerated without having committed any offense, according to Bobi Wine.
“Eddie Mutwe should not be in jail. He should be in a hospital. His colleagues too should not be in jail. They committed no offence,” Wine asserted.
The claims made by Bobi Wine have not been independently verified, and the Ugandan government has yet to issue an official response. However, these allegations add to the growing list of concerns raised by human rights groups over the treatment of opposition figures and political prisoners in Uganda.
