KAMPALA — Political commentator Charles Rwomushana has been released after spending the weekend in the custody of security personnel following his dramatic removal by armed men from a live broadcast at Radio Simba in Kampala.
Rwomushana was taken from the station on Saturday, September 5, by armed men dressed in civilian clothes as he participated in a political talk show at the station’s studios in Bukoto. Video footage from the incident showed several armed men escorting him out of the premises.
The circumstances surrounding his detention remain unclear.
Radio Simba talk-show host Dick Nvule confirmed that Rwomushana was free on Monday after the political commentator contacted him earlier in the morning.
According to Daily Monitor, Rwomushana said he had been released on Sunday night but did not disclose where he had been detained or the allegations, if any, that had been made against him.
His release came as questions continued over the whereabouts of Ivan Mwijukye, an NRM supporter and student who was reportedly intercepted by armed men while travelling on a bus along the Kampala-Masaka Road in Mpigi District on Thursday.
Mwijukye has not been publicly accounted for, according to reports.
Friends and supporters have appealed for information about his whereabouts and called for his release. Daily Monitor reported that neither the police nor the military had issued an official statement explaining the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the two men at the time Rwomushana’s whereabouts were still unknown.
Rwomushana seized during political discussion
Rwomushana’s detention followed a live discussion in which he was participating in debate about Uganda’s political landscape, including internal dynamics within the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and speculation surrounding Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s political ambitions.
The former intelligence chief is a familiar and sometimes controversial voice in Uganda’s political debate.
The incident at Radio Simba caused alarm because it happened in the middle of a live programme, with armed men entering the studio and taking away a participant in front of his colleagues.
Footage circulating online showed several men in civilian clothing surrounding Rwomushana before taking him out of the studio. Reports identified the men as armed, although their institutional affiliation has not been officially established.
There has been no public confirmation from the Uganda Police Force or the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) that their personnel carried out the operation.
The allegation that some of those involved were UPDF soldiers in plain clothes therefore remains unconfirmed.
Mwijukye still missing
The case of Mwijukye has added another layer to growing concern among political activists and commentators over people being picked up by unidentified security personnel.
Mwijukye was reportedly travelling by bus from Mbarara when he was intercepted in Mpigi on September 3. Reports have described him as an NRM supporter and student.
His supporters have demanded information about where he is being held and why he was taken.
National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, also condemned Rwomushana’s seizure and linked it to Mwijukye’s disappearance and another reported disappearance.
The cases have revived an uncomfortable question in Uganda’s politics: when armed men take a citizen away without immediately identifying themselves or explaining the grounds for the detention, where does legitimate security work end and enforced disappearance begin?
For now, one man has returned home.
Another remains unaccounted for.
And the absence of clear official explanations leaves families, colleagues and the public trying to reconstruct events from videos, social media posts and fragments of information — precisely the situation in which rumours grow faster than facts.