A fearless Museveni critic and National Unity Platform (NUP) leader, Bruce Kwikiriza has conspicuously failed to turn up for the burial of his grandmother fearing he could end up in Kitalya prison.
Kwikiriza who was recently named NUP Vice Chairman for the party’s Belgium- Netherlands Chapter (in an election supervised by Bobi Wine himself and Secretary General, Lewis Rubongoya) is inconsolable grieving the death of the woman who raised him and acted like his biological mother, Scolarstica Kimanyenda.
Kimanyenda died on 18th November after a prolonged illness. She was laid to rest on Thursday, November 30th in Kikuube district at the home of Mr Mwebaze Francis.
Kwikiriza who has been in Belgium for over a decade and now leads the Ugandan Opposition outfit (NUP) told DailyExpress in an exclusive interview that as much she would have wanted to attend the send-off of the woman he refers to as “his mother”, he couldn’t risk having heard of cases of arrest for diaspora activists returning home.
During the 2021 election period, Kwikiriza was one of the most vocal activists, rubbing shoulders with top regime officials including then Information and National Guidance Minister, Frank Tumwebaze who warned him following a series of Facebook posts hostile to the government.
At the height of a standoff between the State and Turkey-based social media critic, Fred Lumbuye, the government warned that it would use all means to clamp down on what they described as” useless propaganda” even if it called for arresting them on return home.
Kwikiriza described the deceased as a “complete human being who ensured that all those in her surroundings reaped the benefits of her goodness.” He also lamented about what he called a ” fractured system where countrymen can be wary of returning home heating for their lives.
The late Scolarstica died aged 100 years and is survived by eight children and many grandchildren.
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