UGANDA: KIDNAP OF DR. KIZZA BESIGYE AND TRIAL BEFORE THE MILITARY COURT MEANT TO MUZZLE A STRONG OPPOSITION AHEAD OF 2026 POLLS – POLITICAL ANALYST

Dr. Warren Kifefe Kizza Besigye (centre, in navy blue jacket) being brought before the military court martial at Makindye, November 20, 2024. He has vehemently opposed his trial in a military court (Photo credit: Bob Rumanzi).
The kidnapping of Dr. Kizza Besigye from Nairobi, Kenya violated international law and put a hole in the East African Federation, says Ugandan renown political analyst.
KAMPALA-UGANDA, DECEMBER 30, 2024
By Livingstone Okumu Langol
The Guardian News Correspondent caught up with Mr. Okello Mark, a Kampala-based political analyst who downplayed the treason charges against a long time President Museveni’s personal doctor turned political opponent, Dr. Warren Kizza Kifefe Besigye. Dr. Besigye was, last November, kidnapped from Nairobi and ferried to Uganda, and currently locked up at Luzira Prison from where he has been having mentions of his alleged treason case before the military court martial at Makindye.
Black Star Correspondent: What is your take on the kidnap of Dr. Kizza Besigye?
Mr. Okello Mark: What I know is that every time elections are approaching opposition politicians face trumped up charges, and attempts are made to weaken their parties through divide and rule and buy-off of some of their members. The kind of scenario led to mass exodus of members of the Democratic Party to the National Unity Platform prior to the 2021 elections.
So, this configuration has the impact on the general elections approaching in 2026. Now you see the Forum for Democratic Change splitting up into the rival FDC Katonga group and the FDC Najjanankumbi group. The Dr. Kizza Besigye kidnap is meant to neutralize the upcoming Katonga group where Dr. Kizza Besigye a serious politician had once again found his rhetoric voice to wrest power from the Pakalast (everlasting) Yoweri Museveni.
The move follows in the backdrop of 36 FDC Katonga group who were earlier arrested from Kisumu City on the ground, the group’s actions appeared treasonable, yet the group claimed they had gone to Kisumu for a leadership conference.
The arrest of Dr. Kizza Besigye violated international treaty, and also the East African Treaty and the spirit of the African Chatter on Human Rights.
Secondly, the trial of Dr. Kizza, now a civilian, in Uganda military court is illegal. It is all part of the attempts to throw a spanner in political build-up ahead of the Uganda presidential and parliamentary polls in 2026.
The state knew that Dr. Kizza Besigye was making a new political formation. Ugandan intelligence working in Kenya worked against him. He left Uganda without guns but guns were found where he went. Uganda intelligences and the Kenyan intelligence must have colluded to implicate him in the treason allegation.
Narratives from Winne Byanyima, wife to Dr. Kizza Besigye
Besigye went missing on November 16 in Nairobi, where he had traveled to attend a book launch by the Kenyan former Justice Minister and deputy presidential candidate, Martha Karua.
The background
Besigye was in the company of his political associate, Hajj Obeid Lutale, who has since been charged with four counts relating to security, illegal possession of two pistols, and illegal possession of eight rounds of ammunition by the Ugandan military court.
Appearing on Kenyan television, Citizen, on Wednesday, Byanyima revealed that a British national was involved in the operation.
“He (Besigye) arrived on a Saturday, and the launch was going to be on a Sunday. Then someone he knew had invited him to meet him here in Nairobi, who is a British national, as far as he knows. And this 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 mobilization work and their party activity. So he (Besigye) was exploring this,” Byanyima narrated.
The British national then invited Besigye to a meeting in an apartment in Riverside, Nairobi, where he went with Hajj Lutale.
Shortly after brief introductions to those present, the situation turned dark. Uninvited individuals knocked at the door and introduced themselves as Kenyan police.
“When they arrived there, and they entered the room, and were just being introduced to two people, the one he knew (British national) and another he didn’t know. And then a knock on the door, and it is announced that it’s the Kenya police that has arrived. It turns out it’s eight men in plain clothes. He could not tell who was who, but they say you are under arrest,” Byanyima narrated.
She added, “And in the room was this man and his friend with two guns and with a box of money, or so-called money; he (Besigye) doesn’t know whether it was money or not, and they said, You’re under arrest. And he said, wait a moment. I don’t know why this man came with two guns. I don’t know why he has this box of money. I did talk about fundraising, but I wasn’t expecting this. He didn’t have time. He was just taking photographs of it, and then the man who opened the door, the British man, had disappeared at this time, vanished, and he was left with one other man whom he didn’t know.”