Questions are mounting over the whereabouts of Mathew Bagonza, described as a close personal assistant to Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) chairman Odrek Rwabwogo, following Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s declaration that the organisation is illegal and that its members would be arrested.
An allegation circulating on social media claims that Bagonza was picked up from his home in Entebbe by operatives of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and is being held in military custody.
The allegation has not yet been independently confirmed by police, CMI, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces or Bagonza’s family.
The reported detention comes hours after Gen Muhoozi, the Chief of Defence Forces, publicly declared PACEID an “illegal organisation” and announced that its members would be arrested.
“We shall start arresting its members immediately,” Muhoozi said in a post on X. He later stated that authorities would arrest “ALL the members of PACEID involved in corruption.”
The CDF subsequently indicated that at least one person had already been arrested, although he did not name the individual or provide details of the alleged offence.
Bagonza has previously been publicly identified as an associate of Rwabwogo and has appeared in connection with State House engagements involving the PACEID chairman.
The latest allegation claims that security operatives went to Bagonza’s Entebbe residence and took him away.
If confirmed, his detention would represent the first publicly identified case of a person linked to Rwabwogo being arrested following Gen Muhoozi’s unprecedented threat to dismantle PACEID and prosecute members accused of corruption.
The circumstances surrounding the alleged arrest remain unclear, including where Bagonza is being held, whether he has been formally charged and what offence security agencies may be investigating.
The reported detention has added another dramatic dimension to the increasingly public confrontation between Gen Muhoozi and his brother-in-law Rwabwogo.
Rwabwogo is married to Patience Rwabwogo, President Yoweri Museveni’s daughter and Gen Muhoozi’s sister.
PACEID was established by President Museveni in 2022 and is chaired by Rwabwogo. The committee has been involved in government efforts relating to exports, industrial development and investment.
However, the body has increasingly become the subject of criticism, with Gen Muhoozi now accusing it of operating illegally and threatening arrests over alleged corruption. PACEID and Rwabwogo have not, at the time of writing, publicly responded to the latest declaration.
The allegations surrounding Bagonza are likely to intensify questions about the manner in which the government’s crackdown on PACEID members will be conducted.
Legal observers are expected to focus on whether those arrested will be taken through established investigative and judicial procedures and whether specific corruption allegations will be formally presented.
The CDF’s announcement has already generated significant debate over the role of the military in dealing with civilian corruption allegations and the legal basis for arrests arising from the PACEID dispute.
For now, the central unanswered question remains: Is Mathew Bagonza the person Gen Muhoozi referred to when he said one PACEID-linked individual had already been arrested?
Authorities have yet to publicly identify the person reportedly arrested.
The development also raises concern about other people associated with Rwabwogo and PACEID, amid Gen Muhoozi’s explicit warning that more arrests could follow.
This is a developing story.
