Yusuf Nsibambi says he's secured release of 80 opposition youths after second meet with Museveni

Hon. Yusuf Nsibambi, the outgoing Mawokota South Member of Parliament announced on Friday that he has secured an agreement in principle for the release of around 80 political detainees.

Speaking at the weekly Uganda Law Society press conference in Kampala, Nsibambi said his second meeting with President Yoweri Museveni focused on easing post-election tensions and freeing young people arrested in the aftermath of the highly contested 15 January 2026 general election.

“We have a list of these young men and women whom the president refers to as misguided,” Nsibambi said.

“Virtually 80 will be released soon if there are no roadblocks from their lawyers or political parties.”

He added that the President’s offer, framed as a prerogative of mercy, requires detainees to acknowledge that they were misled, a condition Nsibambi urged lawyers not to complicate with technical legal arguments.

“I therefore call upon the lawyers to exercise the law without invoking technicalities, for instance by telling the government that they should apologize for imprisoning them,” He said

“The president is saying these are young men who were misled. Let them just come out and say ‘we were misled' and that’s it. Because he cannot exercise the prerogative of mercy without admission.”

“Yesterday I had a meeting with the executive and these people will be released from the various prisons.”

The NUP says it has compiled a list or more that 600 young people who were arrested in different parts of the country during the elections.

Meanwhile, Nsibambi also promised to speak to President Museveni about the fate of Isaac Ssemakadde, the president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS).

 Ssemakadde has lived outside Uganda for several months to avoid an international warrant for his arrest, issued after he failed to attend court proceedings related to allegations he insulted judicial officers.

Nsibambi acknowledged Ssemakadde’s absence, saying in interviews that “wherever he is we salute him” and calling on the lawyer to return to Uganda and appeal directly to the president.

He added that ULS members currently feel “like orphans” without their leader to guide legal advocacy in the country — particularly on principle-based matters.