By Leilah Bbaale
The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi has appealed to European Union Ambassadors to push the Government of Uganda to account for Ugandans who went missing after the last general elections.
He also asked them to ensure a speedy trial of political prisoners most of whom belong to his National Unity Platform party.
Ssenyonyi’s who recently took over from Mathias Mpuuga made the call during a meeting between the shadow Cabinet and EU Ambassadors. The EU ambassadors were by the Head of the EU delegation led by Jan Sadek at Parliament on Thursday.
Ssenyonyi told the EU envoys that more than 18 supporters of the opposition have been missing since 2021 and scores are languishing in prisons without trial. Some of those are being tried by the General Court Martial of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.
He said the EU should be bold enough to put the ruling National Resistance Movement(NRM )government in check to combat gross human rights violations, impunity, corruption, and misrule.
Ssenyonyi asserts that the EU, rights activists, and religious leaders among others should not shy away from the truth but should rebuke the violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms.
About the fate of 18 missing Ugandans, the Opposition accused the Government of failing to account for their whereabouts while insisting that the persons were picked from their workplaces and homes by state security agencies.
Jan Sadek the EU Head of Delegation said issues of the human rights abuses raised by the opposition, the missing persons, and the anti-gay law enacted by Parliament among others form part of their continuous dialogue with the government to devise an amicable resolution.
Sadek emphasized that the EU cooperation does not condone corruption and has an established mechanism to deal with it.
He also challenged the opposition to table their priorities ahead of the 2026 general polls as much as they put they continue to put the government in check.
Among other Ambassadors in attendance were; Hugues Chantry of Belgium, Mathas Schuaer of Germany, Kevin Colgan of Ireland, Mauro Massoni of Italy, Maria Hakansson of Sweden, Janos Terenyi of Hungary, Katja Kerschbaumer of Austria, Janyce Obrecht of France, Anne Sofie Oxlund of Denmark, and the Deputy Ambassador, and Head of Cooperration of Netherlands, Joost Van Ettro.
The EU is financing 115 projects across Uganda worth Euros 896 million, approximately 3.729 Trillion Shillings, especially in areas of food security and nutrition assistance to refugees, livelihoods, and infrastructure development among others.
Uganda has also incredibly advanced in her balance of trade with the EU with the latter exporting about Euros 750 million (3.121 trillion Shillings) from Europe while the former exports about Euros 800 million (about 3.329 trillion Shillings)
