The government’s response to the street protests drew criticism from rights campaigners and the United States, which said it was “concerned” by the arrests of dozens of protesters who were “demonstrating peacefully”.
In a statement posted on its X account on Friday, the US embassy in Uganda urged the government of President Yoweri Museveni to investigate allegations that some of the detained protesters had been assaulted.
Young Ugandans took to the streets on Tuesday and Thursday to protest alleged graft by elected leaders in the East African country, drawing inspiration from youth-led protests in Kenya that led the president there to scrap proposed tax hikes.
Yesterday the US mission in Uganda also weighed in and called for through investigations into alleged torture of the suspects
Over 90 anti-corruption protestors including KFM’s Salima Faliza were arrested and some were charged with being a public nuisance.
Some of those released from detention so far have also alleged that they were sexually assaulted while in police cells, sparking widespread criticism, allegations police have since denied.
Samuel Nsubuga, the Executive Director, African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture tells KFM that they also intend to conduct investigations into the allegations.
‘’Investigation must be carried out first and as a non-government organisation, we first have to ask for permission to enter the prison and we have to get a court order by a judge then we can be able to carry out investigation, the only organisation which can go to prison without permission is Uganda Human Right Commission”, he said.
The anti-corruption demonstrations went on last week despite a warning from President Museveni that the protesters were “playing with fire”.
