KAPCHORWA — The National Unity Platform (NUP) has said its Head of the Election Management Committee, Ms Harriet Chemtai, was violently abducted from her home in Kapchorwa District on Tuesday night by unknown armed men.
According to a statement issued by Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, the NUP Secretary General, the incident occurred at around 11pm, when heavily armed men reportedly raided Ms Chemtai’s residence and ordered her to go with them.
“According to the family, heavily armed men raided the home and ordered her to go with them,” Mr Rubongoya said, adding that local residents who attempted to resist were met with gunfire.
“Ordinary people tried to put up resistance but gunshots were fired to subdue them,” the statement reads.
Mr Rubongoya further said Ms Chemtai was forcibly driven towards Mbale, and her current whereabouts remain unknown.
The opposition party expressed deep concern over what it described as a growing pattern of enforced disappearances and detentions targeting its senior members.
“The numbers of senior NUP leaders who are either missing or in detention keep rising,” Mr Rubongoya said, without providing specific figures.
By press time, police had not issued an official statement confirming the arrest or abduction, and it remained unclear which security agency, if any, was involved in the operation. Efforts to obtain a comment from police spokespersons were unsuccessful.
The incident has sparked renewed calls from opposition figures and civil society actors for security agencies to account for missing persons and to respect constitutional protections, including the right to due process.
Ms Chemtai is a senior figure within NUP’s electoral machinery and played a key role in coordinating the party’s activities during the recent elections.
As of Wednesday morning, her family and party officials said they were still searching for information regarding her location and condition.
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