The Uganda People’s Defence Forces-UPDF has dismissed as fabricated allegations made by a junior officer who released a 30-minute video statement accusing the army of running secret detention facilities, torture and enforced disappearances.
Herbert Matanda Mabonga, who identifies himself as an intelligence officer formerly attached to the Defence Intelligence and Security Headquarters in Mbuya, published the video on social media on September 30, 2026 alongside what he claims is footage recorded inside a military safehouse in Entebbe, around Abayita Ababiri.
In the video titled “State of Nation Address on Governance, Security-Intelligence, Corruption and Human Rights in general.” Mabonga said he joined the UPDF on August 8, 2011 and served as an aide to the late Gen. Aronda Nyakairima and the late Brig Gen Tom Kabuye Kikoyo.
He said he could no longer serve due to conscience over arbitrary arrests, disappearances, kidnappings, abductions, torture by the security forces. Alongside the address, Mabonga released clips he claimed show opposition figures Sam Mugumya and Muwanga Kivumbi in detention.
One clip appears to show Mugumya, a former aide to Dr. Kizza Besigye, struggling to walk around a compound in what looks like a rehabilitation exercise, wearing a yellow campaign T-shirt bearing President Museveni’s image.
Sam Mugumya’s whereabouts and condition have been a subject of concern among opposition supporters for years. In the video statement, Lt. Herbert Mabonga Matanda claims Mugumya was held by the Special Forces Command in Entebbe and tortured to disability, describing him as now disabled.
Another appears to show a military officer checking Kivumbi’s blood pressure. Kivumbi was on September 29, 2026 granted Shs3 million cash bail by the Butambala Grade One Magistrate’s Court on charges of inciting violence and managing an unlawful society, charges he denies. The location, date and circumstances in which the recordings were made could not be independently verified by URN.
Barely twenty-four hours later, the UPDF have issued a formal response through Acting Director Defence Public Information Col. Chris Magezi, who has said that the UPDF had taken note of serious criminal allegations against the institution, the CDF Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba and President Yoweri Museveni Commander in Chief-CIC.
Col. Magezi described Lt. Mabonga as a deserter and the claims as a pile of unsubstantiated rubbish composed of forgeries, doctored images, and concoctions.
According to the UPDF, Lt. Mabonga was transferred from the Chieftaincy of Defence Intelligence and Security to the Mountain Infantry Division headquarters in Fort Portal for reassignment in April 2026 but did not report and was declared AWOL, later upgraded to desertion.
Magezi added that Mabonga is wanted over alleged extortion from business groups in Kampala and fraudulent land transactions and forgery of land titles, and described him as an indisciplined and criminal minded junior officer who will be arrested and brought to military justice-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
