Besigye, a four-time presidential runner-up and former president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was Tuesday evening reported missing after going silent and untraceable for close to five days since his public appearance on Saturday, November 16, in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
Eng Winnie Byanyima, the wife of the vocalist opposition figure, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, revealed how she was reliably informed that he [Besigye] is in a military jail in Kampala and urged the government to release him immediately.
“I request the govt of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately,” Byanyima, who is also the executive director of UNAIDS said in a social media post on X platform at around 12:30 am on Wednesday.
She added that Besigye was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi for Hon Martha Karua’s book launch although reasons for his detention were still scanty as no security organ had publicly commented on the missing reports.
“We, his family and his lawyers, demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?” Byanyima wondered.
But according to the latest update by Kampala Capital City Deputy Lord Mayor, Ms Doreen Nyanjura, who is also a senior figure in the Katonga faction of the FDC, Dr Besigye is expected to be produced in the Court Martial today.
“We have received information that Dr Kizza Besigye is going to be paraded at Makindye court martial today at 10; 00 am!!” Nyanjura posted on Wednesday morning.
Speaking to NTV Uganda this morning, the National Unity Platform (NUP) president, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine condemned the circumstances under which the former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president went missing and demanded his unconditional release from detention.
“Dr Kizza Besigye is a highly respected leader and it’s shocking that Kenya which used to be a safe haven for the Ugandan dissidents has now been turned into an operation ground for the dictator in Uganda. We demand for Dr Kizza Besigye’s unconditional release and promise to fight for his freedom like he has done so many times for ours,” Bobi Wine said.
It is not yet clear what charges Besigye, who was part of the guerilla war that brought Museveni to power in 1986, will be slapped with.
