Oliver Lutaaya, a food vendor and single mother of two, is one of 28 members of Uganda’s opposition National Unity Platform who have been arrested and accused of treachery and possession of ammunition following the country’s last general elections in 2021.

Human Rights Watch has said the vote, which President Yoweri Museveni won, was characterized by widespread violence and human rights abuses.

The 28 opposition members will appear before an army court-martial on Monday. It will be Lutaaya’s 24th time before the court-martial.

Lutaaya disappeared on May 8, 2021, after she received a call from an unknown person saying that her mobile number had been used in the theft of a motorcycle. She locked up her two children in their one-room house and went to meet the caller at the nearest police station.

Sarah Nambi, Lutaaya’s aunt, said she became concerned when she did not hear from her niece after that. Nambi said that three months later, she learned Lutaaya was being held at the Kigo government prison.

Later, when Lutaaya was moved to the Luzira Maximum Security Prison, Nambi went to visit her niece and learned more about the incarceration, she said.

Nambi said that Lutaaya told her she was accused of having an improvised explosive device, which she denied.

Lutaaya has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry the death sentence. A trial date has never been set because the prosecution says it is not ready to start the proceedings.

Meanwhile, Uganda celebrated its 61st Independence Day on October 9 under the theme, “Sustaining a united and progressive nation: Taking charge of our future as a free nation.”

Nambi scoffed at the theme. 

“It is a day of independence,” she said, “yet I have someone who isn’t independent. No.”

Nicholas Opio, a human rights lawyer, said that for those who have been subjected to alleged human rights violations, the independence slogan and celebrations mean nothing.

“Unless there is accountability … [for the] innocent people who are disappeared, who are tortured, who are extrajudicially killed by the state in the past elections … their families will continue to express discontent,” he said. “And I think in the future it will be bad for this country.”

Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said those facing court-martial have similar rights as those before civil courts, including access to bail, lawyers, family members and an open trial, unless they haven’t called for one.

Opondo said that if the relatives choose, they can seek redress if they feel their loved ones are being treated unfairly.

Nambi said she hopes that she lives to see her niece free and reunited with Lutaaya’s 7- and-12-year-old children.
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