Uganda hands down 10-year terrorism sentence over power-line attacks

Fourteen electricity pylons and poles were cut or destroyed in attacks that interrupted not just power supplies but water, health care, industry and financial services in Central Uganda. Now the man investigators identified as the organiser, Ibrah Muwonge, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for terrorism, according to Daily Monitor Uganda (direct).

The International Crimes Division of the High Court convicted Muwonge, also known as Ibrah Kimbowa, on October 6, 2026, after he reached a plea bargain—an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty. He faced two terrorism counts and one count of financing terrorism. Justice Andrew Bashaija imposed a 10-year sentence for terrorism and five years for financing it. The terms run at the same time, rather than adding up to 15 years.

Power infrastructure became the target

The case concerned attacks carried out between November and December 2022. Prosecutors said the damaged structures belonged to four electricity transmission routes: Owen Falls-Lugogo, Bujagali-Kawanda, Owen Falls-Namanve and Kawanda-Kapeka. These high-voltage lines carry electricity across the network. Their destruction caused widespread outages, with communications and education also among the services disrupted. The consequences reached beyond the damaged equipment into businesses and the services households depend on.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions described the conviction as the first of its kind in a terrorism case involving the deliberate destruction of electricity infrastructure. That description places the prosecution beyond a straightforward case of damage to public assets: the authorities presented the attacks as part of an organised campaign aimed at sabotaging government programmes and helping to overthrow the government.

Investigators identified Muwonge as the leader of a subversive group called the Uganda Defence Forces, or UDF, which they linked to the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF. They said he used a WhatsApp group to recruit and mobilise young people and coordinate the attacks. He also supplied money to buy tools, cover transport and pay those who carried out the destruction, according to the investigation described by Daily Monitor.

Phone evidence and a guilty plea

Mobile-phone material helped connect Muwonge to the planning, funding and execution of the attacks, investigators said. The evidence included photographs, videos, audio recordings and communications. About eight prosecution witnesses had already given evidence before he chose to enter a plea bargain. Chief State Attorney Jacquelyn Okui prosecuted the case.

In setting the sentence, the court weighed the planning behind the offences, the involvement of a gang and Muwonge’s leading role. It also considered the extensive damage to critical infrastructure and the resulting losses. Against those factors, the court took account of his guilty plea, remorse and responsibilities as a father and breadwinner. It also noted that the offences had caused no deaths.

Police Crime Investigations Director AIGP Tom Magambo warned last year that people sabotaging electricity infrastructure faced prison and severe consequences.

The sentence gives concrete force to that earlier warning. For businesses and users of essential services, the continuing issue to watch is the protection of the transmission network: this case showed how attacks on a small number of structures could interrupt electricity and disrupt activity across several sectors.