“We were held incommunicado, tortured and starved at Kasenyi Military Barracks in Entebbe for 39 days,” says Njagi and Oyoo.
MBALE, Uganda, 9th November -Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has confirmed that the country’s security authorities had arrested two Kenyan human rights activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo.
The two, he said, are ‘experts in riots’ who were working closely with one of his main challengers, Robert Ssentamu Kyangulani aka Bobi Wine, for the upcoming presidential elections.
Making remarks during a radio talk show on national issues at Mbale State Lodge, Museveni, who rose to power in January 1986 after a coup d’etat against Milton Obote, praised the sterling performance of the country’s national intelligence system.
“Here in Uganda we have very good intelligence. For instance, we arrested two Kenyans, I don’t remember their names, who were working with Kyagulani’s group. They’re experts in riots. We picked them up and they have been in the fridge for some days,” said the 81-year-old National Resistance Movement (NRM) party leader.
The duo who had been abducted by armed men around the Kireka area in Kampala, Uganda, on Wednesday, October 1st, 2025, were kept incommunicado for 39 days.
They had attended the launch of the National Unity Platform party’s manifesto whose presidential candidate is Bobi Wine.
During this period, they were not produced before the court and formally charged with any offence.
With immense pressure from local and international human rights organisations, they were released late on Friday, November 7th, after a protracted, high-profile diplomatic negotiation between Kenya and the Ugandan authorities.
They were handed over to Kenya’s High Commissioner in Uganda, Joash Maangi, who, alongside the country’s government officials, escorted them to the border town of Busia. The two were received by the Busia County Commissioner, Mr Chaunga Mwachaunga, for processing to Kisumu International Airport (KIA) en route to Nairobi
Narrating their ordeal during a presser after landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Saturday afternoon, Njagi and Oyoo said that they were starved and tortured by the Ugandan special military personnel during their incarceration.
“We were held at Kasenyi Military Barracks in Entebbe, and didn’t eat for a period of 14 days. We thank the Almighty God, and all the parties involved for rescuing us,” they said.
Earlier at KIA, Njagi’s cousin sister, Caren from Nyando Sub-County in Kisumu, confirmed that the Busia County Commissioner handed him to her as a family member.
“We heard about it last night at around 10pm. I got information that they had been released and were on the way to the border, ” she happily said.
Human rights defenders in Kisumu, led by Betty Okero and Boniface Ogutu, termed their comrades’ experience as super dramatic and went to confirm their previous fears that their comrades were being held in Uganda.
“Seeing them here today is a clear testament and a validation that all the noise and demands we were making weren’t in vain. So, we are very happy to see them,” they remarked.
On his part, Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS), Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, also lauded both governments’ open and constructive communication that led to the safe release of the two activists.
The safety and well-being of Kenyan citizens abroad, Mudavadi emphasised, remains a non-negotiable priority for the Kenyan government.
“We continue to urge all Kenyans living, working, or travelling abroad to remain vigilant and to maintain regular contact with our embassies and consulates for timely assistance and updates,” he assured in a statement released on Saturday.
While warning that the harrowing ordeal is a reflection of the dangerous growth of hard crackdown of dissenters in East African countries, human rights bodies such as Vocal Africa, Law Society of Kenya, Amnesty International and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), said in a joint communique that the duo’s release was a big sigh of relief.
“We are afraid that if these trends witnessed in Tanzania and Uganda continue, human rights violations will be more rampant.”
