Ugandan opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye and his companion Hajj Obeid Lutale in the dock at General Court Martial at Makindye, Kampala on November 20, 2024.
Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye has spoken out for the first time about what exactly happened in Nairobi when he and his colleague Hajj Obeid Lutale were abducted last week.
He narrated to a delegation of People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) leaders how they were ambushed by Ugandan security agents who spoke both Swahili and Ugandan languages.
Dr Besigye and Mr Lutale, both PFF members, went missing in Nairobi on November 16 and resurfaced on Wednesday while being arraigned before the General Court Martial in Makindye, Kampala, where they were charged with four different counts of crimes.
The politician narrated that he and Mr Lutale went to Riverside area in Nairobi for a short dinner meeting with unnamed people on Saturday, November 16, ahead of the book launch of former Justice Minister Martha Karua the next day.
"He told us that they left their belongings, including Dr Besigye's passport, in the hotel room and went for a short meeting before the planned dinner," PFF spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda told the Monitor.
It is at this meeting that people, who Dr Besigye said were pretending to be speaking Kiswahili, ambushed and bundled them into a 4-wheel vehicle with a Kenyan number plate. The opposition leader and Mr Lutale reckon the men were Ugandan security agents camouflaged as Kenyans.
“He told us that these people drove them from Nairobi to Kenya-Uganda border at night and arrived at Malaba at 3am on Sunday. Along the way, they kept making stop-overs. All the way from Nairobi, the abductors kept speaking Swahili. However, when they reached Malaba, one of them said “kandi” then Obeid asked them why all along they didn’t speak any other language,” Mr Ssemujju said.
Mr Lutale, who has been working as Dr Besigye’s logistics officer since 2001 when he launched his first presidential bid, asked the security officers why they were not speaking Ugandan languages. After this, Dr Besigye said, the group started speaking Luganda and Runyankole.
No security checks
Dr Besigye said they went through the Malaba border post without the usual security checks.
“They only changed vehicles. The 4-wheel vehicle with the Kenyan number plate was left at the Malaba border post and moved to another vehicle with Ugandan number plate. They made a brief stop-over at Malaba border post and proceeded through Kenyan-Ugandan immigration checkpoints but without stopping for routine security checks,” said the PFF spokesperson.
The issue of illegal possession of a pistol, which is among the charges the duo is facing, was not mentioned at any point during the abduction in Nairobi, but Dr Besigye said: “Even if we were to have the pistols as they allege, it’s not an offence and it’s not a reason to charge us in the court martial because having a pistol doesn’t make you a soldier/ criminal.”
The army prosecution stated that Dr Besigye, Mr Lutale, and others still at large, between October 2023 and November 2024 while in Geneva, Athens and Nairobi, held meetings aimed at soliciting logistical support and identifying military targets in Uganda with intent to prejudice the security of the Defence Forces.
In two other counts, the two are charged with unlawful possession of two pistols contrary to section 4 (1) and (2) of the Firearms Act, Cap 320.
According to the charge sheet, Dr Besigye and Hajj Lutale on November 16, 2024, while at Riverside Apartments in Nairobi, Kenya, were found in unlawful possession of two pistols; one model 27KAL No.765 and the other HB 1014 1953, which ordinarily are the monopoly of the Defence Forces.
