Internal Affairs Minister, Gen. Kahinda Otafiire has said former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye left Uganda and entered Kenya without a gun.
In an interview with Eagle Online Gen. Otafiire said Dr. Besigye said there is no way security at Entebbe Internal Airport could allow retired Col. Kizza Besigye board a plane while armed. He revealed that his investigation at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport also indicate Besigye entered Nairobi unarmed.
“Besigye left Entebbe without a gun and he entered Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with a gun, so where did he get the gun from? As to what happened thereafter, we don’t know. As Minister of Internal Affairs, I had to verify by ringing Nairobi?” Gen. Otafiire said.
The minister who is a former External Security Organisation (ESO) Director General is also known for speaking his mind freely contradicts both Kenya and Uganda security operatives that claimed a pistol was found on Besigye at his Riverside apartments in Nairobi.
Gen. Otafiire’s assertion follows same claim by Ms Winnie Byanyima, wife Besigye who revealed that he (Besigye) has not owned a gun in the last 20 years.
“He does not own a gun, I live with him and there are no guns in our house. These are trumped-up charges trying to stop him from his work as an opposition leader opposing the government democratically and peacefully,” Byanyima said.
Besigye and his comrade Hajji Obeid Lutale were kidnapped in Kenya and drove to Uganda where he went on to be charged with cases of possession of a pistol and holding meeting in Geneva in Switzerland, Athens and Nairobi in Kenya aimed at soliciting for logistical support and identifying military targets in Uganda with intent to prejudice the security of the Defence Forces.
The duo was remanded to Luzira until December 9, 2024.
Winnie Byanyima said that these are trumped-up charges and questioned how a civilian would be tried at the court martial.
Besigye’s arrest comes barely four months after 36 Ugandan citizens affiliated with the former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) were abducted in Kisumu and taken to Uganda, where they were allegedly tortured and detained.
The group had travelled to Kenya to attend a leadership workshop and was cleared by immigration officials in both Kenya and Uganda.
