Full speech: “Uganda betrayed me” - Matembe narrates detention ordeal

Former Ethics and Integrity minister Miria Matembe has accused the Ugandan state of betraying decades of public service by arresting, detaining and prosecuting her instead of honouring her contribution to the country.

Reflecting on her June arrest and subsequent arraignment, Matembe said she was bewildered to stand in court in a case titled “Uganda Vs Matembe” after spending much of her life fighting for justice, gender equality, human rights and the constitutional order. She questioned how a country she helped serve and whose Constitution she helped shape could turn against her in old age.

“Instead of ‘Uganda vs Matembe,’ shouldn’t this have been ‘Uganda honours Matembe?’” she asked. Matembe said the sight of a lead car waiting to take her to prison was particularly painful, arguing that after her years of service, such an escort should have been taking her to one of the highest offices in the country rather than jail.

On June 24, 2026, suspected security operatives invaded my home in the Luzira suburb of Kampala on a mission to arrest me. This triggered a series of events that led to my arrest on June 28, 2026.

While this was a sad and traumatising experience for me, I am humbled by the outpouring of expressions of support from friends, comrades, acquaintances and all people of goodwill here in Uganda and around the world.

I therefore take the opportunity to thank the people who stood with me and my family, nationally, regionally and internationally during this trying moment.

I was overjoyed to find very many people at court waiting for me. I was comforted by the love of all these wonderful people for coming out and camping at the court for the full two days.

I thank all my lawyers from the Law Society, my sureties, colleagues from civil society, particularly the women’s movement; the youths who composed songs for me. Thank you. May God bless you.

It is now 49 days since Ugandan security operatives invaded my home. Accounts from our gatekeeper indicated that these operatives, mainly in plain clothes, some of them hooded, jumped over the gate of our residence, entered into our house, including our most sacred place, our bedroom.

My husband, Mr Nehemiah Matembe, a senior citizen, 81 years old, who was at home, was shocked and horrified by the terrorist-style invasion of our home; a conduct we have always attributed to past bad regimes the country had fought and overcome.

By the mercy of God, I was not at home at the time of the invasion. For five days I was forced to live outside my home, hiding away from these actions that many Ugandans have endured.

After seeing what other leaders like my friend Erias Lukwago and others went through, I keep imagining what would have happened to me had these rogue regime operatives found me at my home. This was God’s providence and I therefore glorify Him for His mercy and favour upon my life.

At my age, I have lived through all of Uganda’s post-independence history, including the crisis of the 1960s, Amin’s reign of terror, the NRM insurgency of the first half of the 1980s and now 40 years of Museveni’s presidency.

For most of these years I have dedicated most of my life and career to service. My entire work in government and civil society was dedicated to fighting for gender equality and especially the rights of women and the girl child.

During the work of the Constitutional Commission, I traversed the whole country speaking to Ugandans of all walks of life, and I know the hearts of Ugandans and how they wanted to be governed.

We brought their voices and their cries for protection of human rights and dignity into the 1995 Constitution.

I served in the government as minister, knowing that I was helping my brother, President Yoweri Museveni, fulfil the aspirations of those men and women who sacrificed their time, some of them their lives, to ensure that the people of Uganda were free from tyranny, oppression and human rights abuse.

So, on that evening of June 30, I was bewildered when that ‘Uganda Vs Matembe’ charge was read against me. Can you imagine a person who fights for justice and fairness being charged with sectarianism?

I looked at the multitudes of Ugandans there; I looked at the young magistrate before whom I appeared — may God immensely bless her — and I felt proud because I knew she was standing on the shoulders of the countless women who tirelessly fought for the education of the girl child.

Instead of ‘Uganda vs Matembe,’ shouldn’t this have been ‘Uganda honours Matembe?’ Can you believe that the international community honours Matembe while Uganda charges Matembe? Shame to this nation!

How did we degenerate to the point that we have a government that abducts not only its citizens but also its senior citizens who have committedly served and have rested?

As if that was not enough, outside the court I saw a lead car. A lead car to lead me, Miria Matembe, to prison! For all the service I rendered to my country and beyond.

This lead car should have been leading me to be in the office of the Vice President, or Prime Minister, or for me to be the president myself. Why not? But it was leading me to prison. Here I was being led to prison by state agents who wantonly break our laws and abuse our Constitution.

After weeks of careful reflection, I knew that I had a constitutional and civil responsibility to share with my fellow Ugandans and the peace-loving people around the world how I ended up at Luzira Magistrates Court that evening and eventually in prison.

At about midday on June 28, 2026, I saw a tall, dark Munyankore man, who had appeared in the videos of Lukwago’s abduction, on the doorstep of what had become my temporary home.

I was taken to a place that I believe is run by the military. I was starved to near death. But being a prayer warrior, I stuck to my prayers because I knew my God would rescue me the same way He rescued the biblical Daniel of Babylon from the lions’ den.

And indeed, on the third day in the afternoon, my God delivered me from that grave.

I was told to dress up and was dumped at Jinja Road Regional CID office.

The bad vehicle, the poor roads and, of course, the hunger broke my back.

I wish to speak to these young people who are being used to torture, kidnap and harass and even kill innocent Ugandans… By the way, my driver was tortured. He was robbed of his money which I had given him to pay school fees. His wife was tortured and beaten.

I cannot imagine the trauma that the children of this tall man, who came for me and commanded the abduction of Erias Lukwago, could be going through.

I know that he too is a human being and he knows that he is being used like those who operated the dungeons in Nakasero during Amin’s time.

I feel for the men and women of Uganda Police, whose police stations are becoming dumping grounds of Ugandans who are being harassed by these cowardly men of the military. The Regional CID office where I was dumped is across Jinja Road Police Station that had refused to register my husband’s complaint about the invasion of his home and the disappearance of his wife.

I want to thank the women who kept him during this time. I have a friend who even stayed at our home and kept him.

I hear that we have elderly representatives in Parliament; none of them has approached us to say, ‘Senior citizen, sorry about this!’

Fellow countrymen and women, anyone who knows Miria Matembe knows me as a fighter for equality, justice and fairness, with particular emphasis on women and girls.

I have been nationally and internationally recognised, including being among the 100 heroines of the world.

I have dedicated my entire life to the struggle for gender equality, respect for human rights and human dignity and justice for all.

This is an ideal I am committed to live for and ensure that it is achieved when I am alive.

But even if it means it is an ideal for which I have to die, I am compelled to share with you Ugandans and the international community what is happening in this country and to assure you that this situation is not permanent.

Like we overcame Amin’s regime of terror and the insurgency of the 80s, Ugandans are a resilient people and will overcome adversity no matter the odds.

I was privileged to have been at the beginning, at the drafting level, and the conclusion of our Constitution, and I can tell you that I will not be silenced amid this constitutional abuse and gross violation of human rights.

My lived experience is what makes me passionately committed to speaking up. It makes it very difficult for me to shut up when a young person is treated unfairly for holding alternative political views or a pregnant mother who cannot access health services, or when our judicial system is captured and weaponised against citizens.

I honestly don’t know how to remain silent in the face of injustice and gross violation of human rights.

Pray for me. I am not ready to shut up. I would rather be taken by God to rest in peace.

Fellow Ugandans, I call upon you not to remain silent because this would be a betrayal of the people and a sin in God’s eyes.

Our history teaches us that silence in the face of oppression, injustice and gross violation of human rights is not an option.

Nobody knows this better than my brother, President Yoweri Museveni. When he was faced with a situation similar to what we face today, he knew that remaining silent was not an option. He mobilised his colleagues, including my uncles and brothers, and he took up arms to fight for the rights and against the social evils.

We have a duty to honour those Ugandans who perished during those five years of insurgency and ensure that no such death should happen again.

This is why we must, in our singular and collective voice, speak out against the abuse of our nation’s Constitution, against violation of human rights, injustice and sustained attack on our democracy.

There is a famous Runyankore proverb that goes, “Oruri aha mbwa nurwo ruri aha muhiigi.” (The dog and the hunter face similar challenges.)

We are in this together as a country. Respect for human rights and dignity are the defining features of civilised leadership. Their violations have reached epic levels.

The country has reversed all the constitutional gains attained over the last four decades. The Constitution has been silently overthrown by President Museveni’s government through gross human rights violations and abuse of power.

Central to the making of the Constitution was the protection and promotion of human rights.

The continued incarceration of Dr Kizza Besigye, Erias Lukwago, Muwanga Kivumbi, the young NUP political activists like Olivia Lutaaya, Waiswa Mufumbiro and Sam Mugumya, who makes me cry; this is the clear evidence of the excesses that President Museveni’s government told us he was here to fight against. They are all happening in his sight. Does he expect people who have his character like us to keep quiet?

The institutions of justice, the courts, have been demobilised and transformed into weapons of oppression. A single court decision perceived to be fair, like my bail ruling, is now celebrated like a miracle because of the erosion of the independence of the judiciary. This is a big shame.

Incidentally, I understand that after giving me bail, that magistrate was transferred. But I pray for her that one day she will be a distinct leader in the judiciary.

It is with such pain that I, who embraced the NRM revolution, am a victim of illegal military raids of my home and trumped-up charges. Who is safe in Uganda? You young people, should you be quiet?

How can a government be abducting senior citizens, your mothers and grandmothers, instead of honouring them?

President Museveni and his government should be very ashamed and embarrassed of all this.

In conclusion, fellow Ugandans, from my personal experience, I have seen the hand of God because He has fulfilled His promises to me. Ugandans, stop fearing human beings. Stand firmly in our God and in accordance with our motto. Speak up and let all of us redeem our country from the calamity it is going through.

I say this for God and my country.