Sarah Bireete, the executive director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), and Eunice Musiime, the executive director of Akina Mama wa Afrika, have been arrested today by armed men under unclear circumstances.
Sources said the two were allegedly picked up from their respective homes and driven to a yet-to-be-disclosed location.
The identities of the men who carried out the arrests and the reasons for the detentions are unknown.
Bireete, a governance and human rights activist, last reposted a post by Isaac Ssemakadde, the president of the Uganda Law Society, at about 7.00 am today.
In the last few days, Bireete has spoken out about the growing incidences of violations of human rights, and when Miria Matembe’s home was raided last week, she led public calls to stop the harassment of senior citizens like Matembe. The former minister of Ethics is said to be in hiding.
It is also the second time in less than a year that Bireete has been arrested. On December 30, 2025, she was arrested and charged with unlawfully obtaining or disclosing personal data, charges she denied. She was released on bail on January 27, 2026.
On the other hand, Musiime is a feminist lawyer and a human rights activist. Her organisation advances women’s political participation, economic justice, and sexual and reproductive health and rights across Africa. She is quite outspoken.
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The arrests of Bireete and Musiime come at a time of intensifying pressure and attacks on the civil society sector, which has been shrinking for several years.
Just days before the January 15 elections, the government suspended at least seven prominent civil society organisations that monitor human rights, governance, and electoral integrity and froze their accounts.
The affected organisations included Bireete’s Centre for Constitutional Governance, the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, Agora Centre for Research, Chapter Four Uganda, the African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ), the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS), and the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME).
This week, Agather Atuhaire, the team leader at Agora, and five of her staff members will record statements at Kawempe Police Station over alleged fraud and money laundering. Solomon Serwanjja, the executive director of AIIJ, too, has been summoned to make a statement at Natete Police Station over similar allegations.
Bireete and Musiime’s arrests cap a dramatic but sad day for advocates of press freedom and freedom of expression.
Earlier on Sunday, military personnel sealed off the offices of Nation Media Group Uganda, disrupting operations at NTV Uganda and the Daily Monitor, hours after Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the CDF, posted a series of messages on social media announcing that the media house would be shut down after being authorised by his father, President Museveni.
