KAMPALA – Former New Vision sports journalist Joseph Kabuleta has revealed that he was beaten and tortured during his detention at the Special Investigations Unit in Kireka, Kampala, as detectives interrogated him.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, a day after he was released from detention, Mr Kabuleta, who is also a Born Again pastor, recounted the moments he was picked up from Drew and Jacs, an entertainment centre based at Lugogo shopping mall last Friday night.
He revealed that some security men approached him while in the restaurant with his colleagues and requested to speak to him in private.
“However, I refused and insisted that they speak to me in the presence of my friends. They later seemed to have gone away. However, they then grabbed me as I went for a short call,” said Mr Kabuleta.
He said they then bundled him in a private car where there were five guns. He added that they then blindfolded him and took him to Kireka.
Mr Kabuleta revealed that on arrival, they started interrogating him about his articles which he used to publish on his Facebook page under the title ‘Weekly Rants’. He said the soldiers started asking him why he kept abusing the President and the First Family.
He said they denied him food or rest and later poured cold water on him during the night, soaking his clothes. He said they then took off his clothes and left him with an underwear.
“Then they brought pen and paper and asked to write that I was apologizing to the President, the First Son and the First family for my articles,” he said.
When he refused, Mr Kabuleta said he was slapped several times, leaving him with a bleeding nose.
“At this time, they started taking my pictures, probably sending them to the person who had ordered my arrest. They then blindfolded me and took me to another centre for further interrogation,” he said.
He added that they first charged him with abusing the First Son but later changed it to abusing the name of the President after realizing that the first charge would not stand.
Mr Kabuleta revealed that he will continue reporting to police as stated in his bond conditions.
Mr Kabuleta has recently authored articles critical of the current government, the President and the First Family.
In the latest opinion piece, which is published on his Facebook page titled ‘Kabuleta’s Weekly Rant’, he revealed about what he described as a calculated plan to introduce First Son Maj Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba on the political scene so that he eventually succeeds his father, President Museveni.
“Key sectors in government and finance are being held by old and near-senile people with no ambition while in the interim Muhoozi kids are entrenching themselves below. It is a discreet but systematic takeover,” he wrote.
“SFC is in charge of natural resources and national parks while the First Family have their fingers in every major cash-generating venture. It’s not just greed. It’s control. It’s as much about getting the money as it is about keeping it from rivals. So that by 2021, only one camp is liquid. Those who bow and kiss the hand of the new Don are rewarded with the means to live. The rest merely survive or worse,” he added.
“It is nice to see that Muhoozi’s bevy of well-paid promoters are finally earning their dimes. They must be on a mega payroll to believe that someone as dull and lifeless as him can be president. Museveni would have to put us all to sleep before that happens. Mutubalemu ku magezi.”
