KAMPALA: High Court Judge Simon Peter Kinobe has threatened to commit the Inspector General of Police and other security officials for contempt of court over their failure to account for missing People’s Front for Freedom activist Sam Mugumya.
Justice Kinobe has given security agencies three weeks to produce an investigation report explaining Mugumya’s whereabouts, warning that he will personally hold individual officers accountable for disobeying court orders.
The judge was speaking today while hearing a second habeas corpus application filed on behalf of Mugumya, who has reportedly been missing for one year and eight months.
State Attorney Mathew Muhwezi told court that the respondents had failed to submit the report but had since written to the police and the army requesting it.
However, Justice Kinobe rejected attempts to shift responsibility to the police, insisting that his earlier order required both the police and the army to investigate the disappearance.
He warned that he would not hesitate to summon and hold the IGP and other responsible officers in contempt if they failed to comply.
The matter has been adjourned to November 30, with the judge saying he would personally attend the hearing despite being scheduled to go on leave.
According to court documents, Mugumya was allegedly abducted by armed men in Mbarara on August 26, 2025, and taken to an unknown location.
His lawyers, Kato Tumusiime and Kakuru Tumusiime, claim he is being held at the Special Forces Command facility in Kasenyi Barracks, without access to his family or lawyers.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Musasizi, representing some of the security respondents, has denied that Mugumya is in their custody, saying checks at the barracks found no evidence of his detention.
The lawyers want security agencies to establish his whereabouts and account for his reported deteriorating health.
