KAMPALA, Uganda — Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi, the wife of Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, has detailed a violent military raid on her home in a statement released Saturday.
Itungo said the Jan. 23 assault left her injured and briefly unconscious. She described a scene where dozens of armed men broke through doors and windows while she attempted to hide in a bathroom.
According to the statement, an estimated 40 to 50 men entered the residence carrying hammers, iron bars, electric cables and chains. Itungo alleged the men, speaking Runyankore, demanded her phone password before two individuals lifted her by her waistband and choked her.
During the struggle, Itungo said her shirt was torn off, leaving her exposed to the group.
I realized that I could not defend myself against the two men, Itungo said. She added that she attempted to resist but was struck in the face, resulting in a torn lip. She further alleged a man dragged her by her hair to a pillar in the sitting room.
The statement also detailed the treatment of household staff. Itungo said a security guard, or askari, was beaten until he lost a tooth and was seen bleeding in handcuffs. A housemaid was reportedly dragged from her room while clutching a Bible as the men searched for the couple’s children and Robert Kyagulanyi, the musician and politician known as Bobi Wine.
Itungo said the attackers interrogated her regarding her marriage and her husband’s political career. She noted the men questioned why she had not married a Munyankore man.
The raid concluded with the seizure of electronics, including laptops, mobile phones and the home’s entire digital video recorder system for its security cameras. Itungo said she fainted during the interrogation and later regained consciousness on a veranda after the men had departed.
Basically, it was an interrogation, Itungo said. You could see that they had come to destroy our household items but the main point is that they were searching for Mr. Kyagulanyi.
The family has been under house arrest since Jan. 15, the statement said.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF MRS. BARBIE KYAGULANYI’S NARRATION OF THE EVENTS OF THE NIGHT OF 23/01/2026 WHEN THE MILITARY BROKE INTO THEIR HOUSE AND ASSAULTED HER:
“Speaking in Runyankore, they ordered me to open the door and I told them I would not. In that moment, I crossed into the general bathroom, locked myself inside and telephoned one of our neighbours. I told the neighbour that we had been attacked [by the military] and asked the neighbour to help watch over us. I then got out of the bathroom and by the time I reached the sitting room, I found that [the military] had already broken all the doors and windows. They we sooo many who had entered the house…some of them passed through the corridor and went into the children’s bedrooms; others went into the lounge, others went into the kitchen, others passed by me and went up the stairs.
I was still seated on the stairs when one of the attackers accosted me and ordered me to seat in a chair. I declined and told him I would sit down instead, because I felt I could not sit in the chair … I sat down and he stood towering behind me. He ordered me to give him my phone and I passed it to him over my shoulder. He then got and held it in my face; I think he thought it had facial recognition or thumbprint but it was in fact locked with a password. He ordered me to remove the password, in Runyankore, and I told him I would not. He ordered me again to remove the password and I responded again that I would not.
He then went outside and called about four of his colleagues and they came to me. He stood behind me once again, and grabbed me by the waistband of my trouser … I was putting on Taata Solomon [Mr. Kyagulanyi’s] night wear trouser and a biker short because throughout these days I have been having a premonition; a feeling that this kind of attack would happen anytime, since [the military and police who have kept us under house arrest since 15th January] have made two attempts to break into our home.
[After grabbing me from behind by the waistband,] the man lifted me up [by the waistband]. They were muscular men who closely resembled. They are about the same height, and even when I would look down as they paced about, I would see that they had the same size of shoes. Although their shoe types were different … but you could tell that these men were of a certain size and shape.
Now, after lifting me [by the waistband] and suspending me mid-air, the one who was standing infront of me started choking me. He choked me in the neck like this, and he also kept me suspended mid-air by the neck. At that point, the one who was behind me forcefully pulled the night wear shirt I was putting on … like this. I realized that I could not defend myself against the two men so what I did was to kick the one in front of me. When I kicked him, he walked away … because I kicked him here [in the groin], I think he walked … after walking away, his remaining colleague pulled me [by the shirt] and all its buttons got torn off and he remained holding the shirt in his hands.
In the sitting room were very many men. If I can estimate, I can’t say it’s the correct figure, but they were about 40 or 50 men. Some were holding hammers, some were holding iron bars, some were holding electric cables, some were holding chains, some were holding pliers, … after he pulled my blouse and the buttons went off, I walked naked into the corridor leading into the sitting room.
When I went in the corridor, there were some men who appeared mortified [by my appearance] so they looked away while others looked down…but there were some who were unbothered. But there was one of them who said, “no, no, no, give back the shirt to ma’am to wear it”. Now, one of the men went to get the shirt – the other man had dumped it on the floor – and then mockingly ordered me to raise up my hands to wear the shirt. I declined and told him to give me the shirt I would dress myself. He gave it to me and I put it on.
When I put it on, the man who had grabbed and tore the shirt off me, now held me by the puffs of my hair and lifted me up and dragged me up to the pillar – there is a pillar in our sitting room – and he hit me on the face and tore my lip. When he was done, he ordered me to give him the password and I insisted that I would not give it to him – all this time we were speaking in Runyankore because it’s what he had decided to speak.
At that moment, he forcefully pulled back to the floor and I put my head on the floor. They sat on me about 4 men and I went silent there on the floor. They ordered me again to give them my phone password and I repeated that I would not do so. There was another man who was commanding them … he entered and told them to get off me and they did and I remained sitting down. In that moment I felt a sudden intense warmth and started feeling nauseous and restless. I asked for water.
They brought me water from the kitchen and I drank it then asked for more which I also drank. Now, in that moment, I felt unwell…I don’t know what happened to me and I lost consciousness. When I finally came to, I found myself lying on the veranda outside…I think I had vomited the water… and by that time everyone [the attackers] had already gone.
They took every phone, every laptop, woofers, power banks, chargers, airpods, and they disconnected the entire CCTV camera [DVR] system and went with it together with the Monitor. By this time, they had thoroughly beaten up our askari and by the time they brought him back into the house to take them to our bedroom – they asked him where the basement was, and he told them he did not know because he was new – by the time they brought him up I could see he was bleeding, they even broke his tooth. He was on handcuffs with another young man whom he usually stays with. They dragged the girl [housemaid] from her room – the poor woman was clutching onto her Bible – and they asked her where my children went. She told him they had left earlier but that she did not know where they were.
In that moment, we sat…I was still seated there and one of the men came to me and asked me in Runyankore:
‘Your brother whom you brought to contest in Kampala Central, you thought he would win?! You think you’ll be picking people from that side and think they will take over the country just like that?!’ I kept silent and another one came to me and asked;
‘By the time you got married to a terrorist muganda man, couldn’t you marry a munyankore man?!’ I still remained silent.
All that happened before I fainted of course, but I think it’s the reason why I eventually felt overwhelmed…they asked me, “where is your husband?” and I told them I did not know. Basically, it was an interrogation, you could see that they had come to destroy our household items but the main point is that they were searching for Mr. Kyagulanyi.
