KAMPALA — A leaked video circulating on social media has intensified concern over the whereabouts of missing opposition activist Sam Mugumya, with rights advocates claiming the footage shows him severely weakened and reliant on a walking aid nearly a year after his reported disappearance.
The 14-second clip, widely shared on Friday, appears to show a thin man wearing a checkered shirt and blue jeans, struggling to walk with the support of a rollator walker. Activists, including journalist Agather Atuhaire and several opposition figures, identified the man as Mugumya based on his appearance and clothing, although the video’s authenticity and the identity of the individual have not been independently verified.
Mugumya, a member of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) and former political aide to opposition leader Kizza Besigye, was reportedly abducted in Mbarara on August 26, 2025, shortly after returning to Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he had spent eight years in prison on allegations of espionage before being released.
Sharing the footage on X, Atuhaire alleged that Mugumya had been subjected to torture and starvation while in illegal detention.
“This is what the state did to Sam Mugumya. I think apart from torture that must have broken his ribs and legs, they also starved him. Can you at least now release him for his loved ones to care for him?” she wrote.
In an earlier post in June, Atuhaire said she had received information from a source claiming Mugumya was being held in a detention facility in Entebbe and required a walker to move around. She said the account corroborated testimony from another former detainee who allegedly saw him there.
Other social media users, including academic Jim Spire Ssentongo, said the video underscored growing concerns about alleged enforced disappearances and unlawful detention in Uganda. However, none of the claims made in the posts have been independently verified.
The emergence of the footage has renewed calls from opposition politicians, lawyers and human rights organisations for authorities to disclose Mugumya’s whereabouts or release him if he is in state custody.
Last year, Mugumya’s family successfully obtained a writ of habeas corpus from the High Court directing security agencies to produce him before court. In response, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) filed an affidavit denying that Mugumya had ever been held in any military detention facility.
Police have also denied holding the activist. Police spokesperson ACP Kituuma Rusoke previously told journalists that the force had no information regarding Mugumya’s whereabouts.
Despite those denials, Mugumya’s fate has remained unknown, prompting repeated appeals from his family and supporters. Rights advocates have expressed concern for his elderly mother, who has continued to campaign publicly for information about her son’s whereabouts.
The latest video surfaces amid heightened scrutiny of alleged enforced disappearances in Uganda. In recent weeks, the disappearance of former Butambala County MP Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi after his reported re-arrest also attracted domestic and international attention, with the High Court directing the government to investigate and account for his whereabouts while security agencies denied holding him.
Human rights organisations have consistently urged Ugandan authorities to investigate allegations of enforced disappearances, unlawful detention and torture, while the government has maintained that security agencies operate within the law and has denied holding individuals whose detention has not been officially acknowledged.
As of Friday afternoon, neither the UPDF nor the Uganda Police Force had publicly commented on the newly circulated video, and it remains unclear where or when the footage was recorded. The identity of the individual shown in the clip has not been independently confirmed.
