Bobi Wine: Why 9 cops who guarded me during campaigns have been fired from Police

Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has accused the government of punishing police officers who were once assigned to his protection, claiming they are being blamed for his disappearance after the January election.

In a statement posted on X, Kyagulanyi said nine police officers were recently presented before the Police Court and dismissed from the Uganda Police Force.

“The criminal regime yesterday paraded before the Police Court, nine of the police officers who were assigned to our campaign! They were all dismissed from the Uganda Police Force with disgrace. Their crime? ‘Neglect of Duty’. The criminal regime claims that they assisted me in escaping from my own home. Crazy!” Kyagulanyi wrote.

He said the officers had already been withdrawn from duty on January 15, which was election day. According to him, they were no longer deployed at his residence when the military surrounded his home the following day.

“And yet, in fact, these professional police officers were withdrawn on 15th January, which was election day. By the time I left my home on the 16th when the military raided, they were no longer on duty,” he said.

Kyagulanyi added that the officers were now facing punishment because the authorities could not explain his disappearance.

“But now, they’re being hounded, persecuted, and punished because the regime can not live with the embarrassment of not being able to locate me for two months,” he wrote.

He further claimed that two officers, including one identified as Kigenyi, were returned to detention at the Railway police station and were still under interrogation.

Kyagulanyi has remained out of public view since January 16, when security forces reportedly surrounded his residence shortly after the election. Since then, he has released several recorded messages online from undisclosed locations.

During that period, he also delivered a virtual address to lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels on February 23, 2026.

Reports circulating in political circles suggest that security agencies were able to trace his location but did not move to arrest him.

Journalist and political commentator Andrew Mwenda said during a recent podcast that intelligence services had sought authorisation to apprehend Kyagulanyi but were reportedly told not to proceed.

“What I know with a high degree of confidence is that the intelligence services were able to establish where Bobi Wine is and they needed permission from the president to go and apprehend him from there and the president said ‘no. leave him’,” Mwenda said, citing what he described as reliable sources within the security system.

Government officials have given mixed signals on the issue. Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has previously indicated that security agencies were searching for the opposition leader. However, Minister of Information and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi has said the state is not pursuing him and that he has no case to answer.

The National Unity Platform recently told journalists that Kyagulanyi is still in Uganda and in good health, though it declined to reveal his location. Other reports have suggested that the opposition leader may have since left the country and travelled to the United States.

The circumstances surrounding Kyagulanyi’s whereabouts, as well as the dismissal of the police officers mentioned in his statement, continue to generate debate in Uganda’s political space.