Many years ago, an elite Journalist Teddy Ssezi Cheeye opened a Pandora box that made Rwanda appear as if it was an extension of Uganda despite being a sovereign state. In his own words, he said Rwanda was the 40th District of Uganda. His statement was interpreted to mean that Rwanda was an extension of Uganda and would not resist taking orders from Kampala.
If I had the liberty to say as I please, I would have echoed the same statement regarding Kenya. Infact taking refuge in Kenya is as good as taking cover at city square in Kampala. Kenya has in the recent times turned out to be a play ground for Uganda’s security forces as they have allowed their territorial space to be used for tormenting perceived enemies of Uganda. Infact Uganda’s government spokesman told the media that all that happened to Besigye was with the consent of Kenya.
When asked why Nairobi was collaborating with Uganda to stampede on human rights, the Kenyan government spokesman Isaac Mwaura denied knowledge of Besigye abduction and the Principal Secretary to the foreign affairs ministry, Korir Sing’oei, said he was not even aware of Besigye’s presence in Nairobi. This is sufficient evidence to show that Besigye’s removal from Kenya was neither a deportation nor an extradition but an act of abduction.
Besigye’s abduction was brought to light by Winnie Byanyima that her husband and a one Lutale were abducted from Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday and forcibly returned to Uganda on Sunday and held incommunicado at Makindye military barracks in Kampala. It is said that Besigye had travelled to Nairobi to launch a books for a one Martha Karua, a former running mate to opposition leader Raila Odinga in the Presidential elections in Kenya.
On Wednesday November, 20th 2024, the duo were arraigned before the Court Martial and charged with four counts and remanded to Luzira prison with one of the charges being possession of firearms and ammunition. Appearing before a seven-member court martial chaired by Brig. Gen. Freeman Mugabe, the accused persons lawyer protested the charges saying the Court Martial lacked the jurisdiction since the alleged offenses occurred outside Uganda.
Despite the spirited fight, the panel overlooked the arguments and sent the duo to Luzira prison until December 2, 2024 for mention and ruling based on the preliminary objection. I think the intention is to give the prosecution sufficient time to consult and amend the charges so that the areas pointed at do not impede the trial. With the amendment, the panel will rule that since the charge sheet has been amended, the ruling is overtaken by events since it was based on the errors in the charge sheet and as pointed out by the defence lawyers.
But I am also aware that the NRM Government is led by cowards, they clearly know what Kiiza Besigye is and they know what the international community will do. They will either slap new charges on him including treason or they will succumb to the preliminary objection and let him off the hook only to arrest him for another charge within the court premises.
I have seen the charge sheet doing round on social media on which Dr. Kiiza Besigye and Hajji Obed Lutale were charged before the Makindye based Court Martial for offences related to security contrary to Section 128(1) (f) of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act. The charge sheet goes on to state that the duo are subject to military law by virtue of Section 117 (1) (h) (i) of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act cap 330.
Well, I do not know what informed the draftsman of the charge sheet to believe Kiiza Besigye and Obed Lutale are subject to military law but to the best of my recollection, none of them is a serving army officer under Section 208 of the UPDF Act and even if the section applied to them, the impugned offences did not offend Ugandan laws and as such the due should have been tried in Kenya. By and large, the whole charge sheet looks amateurish and has raised more questions than answers; it is in fact fatally defective.
First of all, the charge sheet categorically mentions that while Kiiza Besigye was in Geneva in Switzerland, Athens in Greece and Nairobi in Kenya, he held meetings aimed at soliciting for logistical support and identifying military targets in Uganda with the intent to prejudice the security of the Defence forces. I guess the draftsman intended to say “with the intent to prejudice” the security of Uganda, it is the security of Uganda that matters and not the UPDF.
Secondly, count two against both Besigye and Lutale is laughable. The charge of being found in possession of unlawful is derived from Section 4(1) and (1) of the Fire arms Act and the offence is unlawful possession of fire arms. A mere mention that this happened at Riverside Apartments in Kenya raises issues of jurisdiction on the part of the General Court Martial.
It is also laughable that the charge sheet paints a picture that all fire arms in and outside Uganda including Pistols No. HB 1014 1953 and Model 27KAL No.765 said to have been found in their possession is a monopoly of the forces. I wonder which Defence Forces are being referred to but the interpretation is that they mean Uganda Peoples Defence Forces.
If indeed it is true that Besigye and Hajji Lutale were found with the said firearms, who should be complaining, is it the government of Uganda or that of Kenya? Don’t Kenyans have laws to deal with people found in possession of unlawful firearms? How did the court-martial cloth itself with the jurisdiction to try somebody for offenses committed in another jurisdiction?
The charge sheet was short of creating an impression that all firearms even outside the jurisdiction of Uganda belong to the Uganda People Defence Forces in tandem with Section 4(1) and (1) of the Fire arms Act. Besigye being a former soldier is aware that a person cannot travel his country with a fire arm whether legal or illegal or not unless one obtain a permit. It is even worse that he flew out through Entebbe Airport unless somebody wants to discredit our airport that there are no security measures and that one can board a plane with a fire arm.
With the charge sheet now in the public domain, it is now clear that Besigye and his “accomplice” were picked akin a kidnap by our security forces from Kenya and driven back to Uganda without following migration procedure. The way the duo were picked from Kenya back to Uganda is certainly a regional embarrassment pitting Kenya against its neighbour as their return was neither a lawful deportation nor an extradition.
We have a wealth of scenarios where Kenya has colluded with Uganda to pick perceived criminals from their soil and forced back to Uganda without following the due process of the law. There is also a likelihood that even Kenya has been picking its wanted persons from Uganda in total disregard to their respective laws as well as regional and international instruments.
Just a few months ago, some 36 Ugandan youth who had gone to Kisumu-Kenya for ICT training were roughed up by Ugandan security forces and driven to Uganda where they were arraigned in court over fictitious charges. We thought Kenya had learnt something and would take steps to protect foreign dissidents on their territory only to allow the same thing to happen to Besigye. Sadly, they charged Kiiza Besigye and not Warren Kiiza Besigye Kifefe.
There was also another case under Ref No 4 of 2011- Omar Awadhi and 6 others Vs the Attorney General of Uganda. In that case, Omar Awadhi and 6 others claimed that they were arrested, and forcibly removed from Kenya and handed over to officials of the Government of Uganda who illegally detained them without due process of extradition.
They averred that their trial in Uganda was in violation of their fundamental rights, under both the Kenyan and Ugandan Constitutions, International law, the Maputo protocol and the Treaty establishing the East African Community and sought inter-alia to restrain the Government of Uganda from proceeding with the prosecution but the Attorney General of Uganda was over ruled on preliminary objection contending that the Reference was filed out of time.
Aggrieved by the decision, the Attorney General of Uganda lodged an appeal averring that Reference No 4 of 2011 was time-barred. The appeal was heard and court decided the matter on a technicality of being time barred. The matter was thus stifled without going into its merits which would have provided us with a recent precedent on extradition. .
Assuming that it was true that Besigye was in Geneva, Athens and Nairobi to hold meetings aimed at soliciting for logistical support, who said that the logistical support was intended to prejudice the security of the Defence forces. Being a party leader, is Besigye not allowed to solicit for funds to promote the activities of his new found Party-Peoples Front for Freedom?
With the above analysis, I can only hope that what has happened to Besigye and Lutale does not resurrect the bad memories reminiscent with past experiences in East African where our leaders would pursue their political enemies into foreign countries to take revenge. I understand many of our people cannot tell the difference between abduction, a kidnap, an extradition and or deportation, the four words don’t mean one and the same thing.
If we do not get an official apology from Kenya with a promise never to aid Ugandan security forces in abducting Ugandans, we, I mean I and other human rights advocates intend to boycott all Kenyan product and, businesses until they own up their mistake. We would rather be neighbours to Israel than a country that plots against our own rights with the help of our own governments. Even Kenyans are not safe in their country and ought to join us in this struggle.
This impunity of going after political enemies was started by Rwanda in South Africa but is slowly spreading into other neighboring countries. If President William Ruto of Kenya is doing things outside the law just to appease his god father in Uganda, he is destined for the worst. All state sponsored kidnaps and cross boarder renditions within the borders of the East African Community must be resisted by all whether one is apolitical or a political animal, all of us are potential targets and potential refugees in waiting.
Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues. Wadroger @yahoo.ca
