The Uganda Feminist Forum has called for an immediate end to what it describes as a dangerous escalation in military intimidation, unlawful arrests, and violence targeting women activists, journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders since the 2026 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.
In a statement released on 2nd July 2026, the Forum expressed deep concern and solidarity with all citizens facing surveillance, office raids, abductions, threats, and other forms of state repression. It warned that Uganda is witnessing attacks on civic freedoms that recall some of the darkest chapters in the country’s history and insisted that military violence, abuse of power, and public intimidation cannot serve as tools of governance. No public official, military or civilian, stands above the Constitution, the Forum said.
“A Nation that Silences its Bravest Daughters Betrays its Future,” the Forum said. “Uganda belongs to all its people. Uganda’s future must be built on justice, freedom, accountability, dignity, constitutionalism and the full participation of its people. For God and Our Country.”
The statement singled out a sustained pattern of violence and threats directed at women by the military under the leadership of Chief of Defence Forces General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. The Forum argued that these attacks are not isolated incidents but part of a broader assault on civic space, democratic participation, and the right of women to lead, organise, and speak without fear.
Drawing parallels to Uganda’s past under Idi Amin, the Forum cited several recent cases to illustrate the trend. Veteran politician and women’s rights activist Dr. Miria Matembe was charged with sectarianism on 30th June 2026 after security forces raided her home six days earlier. She appeared in court visibly weakened, was initially denied bail and remanded, but was granted bail on 1st July. The Forum demanded that the same constitutional right to bail be extended to all other victims of politically motivated detention who remain in prison.
On 28th June 2026, Major Kainerugaba ordered the shutdown of Nation Media Group outlets in Uganda, including the Monitor Newspaper, NTV, Dembe FM, KFM, Spark TV, and The East African. Managing Director Susan Nsibirwa was forced to operate from an undisclosed location. That same day, feminist activist Eunice Musiime was arbitrarily detained alongside human rights defender Dr. Sarah Bireete. Three days earlier, on 25th June, security operatives unlawfully raided the offices of civil society organisation Akina Mama wa Afrika.
The Forum also condemned the denial of entry to Kenyan lawyer and veteran politician Martha Karua at Entebbe International Airport on 22nd June 2026, when she was declared persona non grata on orders of the CDF. Karua serves as lead counsel for Dr. Kizza Besigye and Hajj Obed Lutale, who have been detained since November 2024 on treason charges. She was travelling to attend court proceedings for fellow lead counsel and former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, who had been abducted from his home and, according to details later shared on X by the CDF, subjected to torture.
These incidents, the Forum said, reveal both a dangerous escalation in the use of state machinery to suppress civic engagement and the gendered nature of repression in Uganda today. Women who speak out, lead, defend rights, and occupy public space are being subjected to targeted humiliation, threats, surveillance, and punishment.
The Forum argued that lasting peace can only be built when all voices are acknowledged, and that democracy is strengthened by encouraging civic participation rather than criminalising dissent. Justice, it said, is upheld by protecting those who expose injustice and hold power to account, not by targeting them. An inclusive and prosperous future requires an environment where women are respected and valued, not intimidated for leading and organising.
The Forum called on President Yoweri Museveni, Parliament, security agencies, and all institutions mandated to uphold the Constitution to immediately cease the militarisation of civic and political life. It demanded an end to public threats, media intimidation, office raids, arbitrary arrests, abductions, and unlawful restrictions on the movement of women activists, human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and organisers.
It also urged authorities to guarantee the safety and due process rights of all detained persons, ensure independent investigations into all allegations of abuse, protect constitutional freedoms of expression, association, and assembly, end the targeting of women and opposition actors for their political views, hold accountable all state and security actors responsible for abuses, and create conditions for women to participate fully and safely in public life.
