A broken man in a yellow T-shirt: The troubling image of Sam Mugumya

This week, video clips surfaced on X showing Sam Mugumya, the former aide to Dr Kizza Besigye, hobbling. It was tear-inducing.

In the footage, which is less than 30 seconds long, Mugumya is seen struggling to walk. His steps are slow and unsteady. He is wearing a yellow T-shirt with a photo of President Museveni.

For those who knew him, like this writer, the image is hard to bear.

Mugumya was once an able-bodied young man, full of energy and zeal. Today, the 46-year-old is learning to walk like a one-year-old child.

The video has stirred strong emotions across social media, with many people tearing their hair out and asking: what could have happened to a man they remember as strong and driven?

Yesterday, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, the president of the National Unity Platform (NUP), posted on X that Mugumya is being held in a safe house in Abaita Ababiri, Entebbe. Bbeg Media could not independently verify Kyagulanyi’s claim.

Mugumya was arrested last year in Mbarara. He has not been charged with any offence, and security agencies have repeatedly denied that he is in their custody.

Yet his family, friends and the public are left with questions and no answers.

This is not the first time Mugumya has disappeared from public life. Before his latest ordeal, he spent a long time in prison in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after he was arrested in 2014. He was eventually released in December 2022.

Before his abduction in Mbarara, he had expressed interest in standing in Rukungiri Municipality on a People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) ticket. This did not materialise.

To understand how far Mugumya has fallen, it helps to remember where he started. Mugumya was a youth activist in his university days at Makerere and a mobiliser of Reform Agenda, the platform on which Besigye stood for the 2001 elections.

When Besigye returned from exile in 2005, Mugumya worked as his political aide.

He took his duties seriously and rarely left Besigye’s side. He was also known as a good-hearted man, and journalists remember him as someone who helped broker interviews with Besigye. For many reporters, he was the friendly face that opened the door.

That is why the video clips have hit many so hard. In his limp and laboured walk, they see a shadow of a man who once moved quickly and energetically beside Dr Besigye.

For now, Mugumya’s whereabouts remain officially unconfirmed. We can only guess the state of his condition through the short video clips leaked on social media.

Yet for the many Ugandans who watched the clips, two questions refuse to go away.

First, how did the vibrant, cheerful, and energetic Mugumya descend into this broken state? Secondly, which soul inflicted this pain on him?

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