Kizza Besigye’s wife narrates how he was abducted in Nairobi, driven to Uganda overnight
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A screengrab of a video of Winnie Byanyima, the wife of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, speaking on Citizen TV's JKLive Show on November 27, 2024.
Winnie Byanyima, the wife of Ugandan
opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye, has disclosed the details leading to her
husband's abduction in Nairobi and subsequent arraignment in a Kampala military
court.
Besigye was abducted 11 days ago
while in Kenya for a book launch, and was driven by night to Uganda where he
was charged with plotting to undermine national security and
being in unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, which were all
recovered in Nairobi.
Speaking on Citizen TV's JKLive Show on
Wednesday, Byanyima narrated that Besigye had traveled to Nairobi on November
16 to attend a book launch by NARC-Kenya party leader Martha Karua, a friend of
his.
The book launch was scheduled for Sunday,
November 17, but upon arriving in Nairobi, Besigye was reportedly invited by a
British national to a meeting with business associates supposedly interested in
supporting African political parties and their mass mobilization efforts.
Besigye was accompanied by his party
colleague, Haji Obeid Utale, to the meeting location on Riverside Drive,
Nairobi.
According to Byanyima, who serves as the
Executive Director at UNAIDS, the situation took a dark turn when, after a
brief introduction to the people present, a knock on the door announced the supposed
arrival of Kenyan police.
"The British national said he had a
group of colleagues and friends and businesses who invest in Africa who wanted
to support political parties and could support their mass mobilisation work and
party activity," she said.
"So he was exploring this and he was
invited to a meeting in Riverside and he went with his party colleague Haji
Obeid Utale. They arrived there, entered the room and were being introduced to
two people, the one he knew (Brit) and another he didn't know....a knock on the
door and it is announced that Kenya police have arrived."
The British national reportedly opened the
door only to find eight men in plain clothes; Besigye could not tell who they
were but they told him he was under arrest.
According to Byanyima, Besigye was taken
aback when he noticed that the British national who had invited him to the
meeting was carrying two guns and a box of money
"In the room were this man and his
friend with two guns and a box of money and the supposed police said ‘you are
under arrest’ and Besigye said 'wait a moment I don't know why this man came
with two guns and a box of money; I did talk about fundraising but I wasn't
expecting this'," Byanyima narrated.
Before he could ask more questions, the
British man vanished, leaving Besigye with a stranger, his party colleague and
the supposed policemen. Besigye and Utale were then forcibly driven overnight
towards the Ugandan border.
"Four of the men bundled him and his
partner in a car and drove them the whole night towards the border of Uganda.
They crossed into Uganda without stopping. It was clearly a well planned
operation," she said.
"Somewhere towards Nakuru, the four men
who abducted them forgot and started talking in our language so Kizza said I
wish you told us we spoke the same language, and that's how they crossed them
into Uganda to the military jail."
She added that Besigye remains in good
spirits despite the harsh conditions he is facing in prison.
"He is well; he is in good spirits but
he is in a prison sleeping on the floor, prison conditions aren't good but he
is strong," said Byanyima.
"He was charged in a military court,
that's wrong because he is a civilian and remanded in a civilian prison just to
calm the anger in the public."
Want to send us a story? SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp 0743570000 or Submit on Citizen Digital or email wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke
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