Former Supreme Court Justice Dr. Esther Kitimbo Kisaakye has publicly accused President Yoweri Museveni of presiding over a violent crackdown on dissent following his contested re-election, demanding he immediately put an end to post-election repression in Uganda.
Through an open letter, dated January 25, 2026, and shared widely on the social media platform X, Kisaakye, who served on Uganda’s highest court from 2009 until her retirement in 2023, writes about the raids, abductions, and unlawful detentions of the opposition
Kisaakye is now among a growing number of Ugandan professionals living in what she calls “involuntary exile,” fearing for her safety.
Her missive targets the aftermath of the January 15 presidential election, where the electoral commission declared Museveni, in power since 1986, the winner with 71.65% of the vote a result opposition leader Robert “Bobi Wine” Kyagulanyi has rejected as fraudulent, citing a nationwide internet shutdown during the vote tally.
“If you won legitimately, repression is unnecessary. If repression exists, legitimacy is in question,” Kisaakye stated.
The justice’s letter catalogues a series of alleged state-sponsored abuses, several of which align with reports from international media and human rights organizations.
She details the January 23 armed raid on Bobi Wine’s home, where his wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, reported masked individuals, some in army and police uniforms, forcibly entering, assaulting occupants, destroying property, and stealing devices.
Kisaakye further lists the alleged abduction of National Unity Platform (NUP) vice presidents Dr. Lina Zedriga and Jolly Tukamushaba, the “unlawful detention” of opposition stalwart Dr. Kizza Besigye, and the imprisonment of activist Sarah Birete and Catholic priest Father Ssekabira.
These patterns of security force operations against opposition strongholds have been documented by Human Rights Watch in the days following the poll.
Moving beyond documentation, Kisaakye has directly challenged Museveni’s command.
“You are the President of Uganda and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Your son is the Chief of the Defence Forces. Can all of the above be happening without your knowledge or consent?” she asked.
She further condemned the labeling of political opponents as “terrorists,” a tactic she argues renders constitutional guarantees of multiparty democracy and court redress meaningless.
“When opposition leaders are hunted, their homes surrounded by armed men, and their parties terrorized, are those constitutional guarantees still meaningful?” she added.
According to her, the current crisis is not an isolated event but the latest escalation in a decades-long pattern under Museveni’s rule, questioning, “As a country, Uganda, are we moving forward, or are we moving backwards?”
She has also called for a return to “constitutional governance, where courts function independently,” and urged the president to use his authority to restore the rule of law, stop abuses by security forces, allow citizens to exercise constitutional rights without fear, and end abductions, sieges on homes, and the killing of suspects.
