Kenya has dismissed claims of involvement in the alleged abduction of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Sing’oei Korir clarified that Kenya had no part in Besigye’s reported arrest or deportation.
“There is no reason whatsoever for Kenya to be a party in his arrest, if any,” Korir said on Wednesday. When the Star reached out to Korir to inquire about Kenya’s involvement, Korir said: “Absolutely not! Preposterous to even suggest it.”
Besigye has run against Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in four elections and lost each time, although he has rejected the results.
On Wednesday, Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, claimed her husband had been kidnapped in Nairobi on Saturday at an apartment complex on Riverside Drive.
According to his family, Besigye was abducted in Nairobi and taken to Uganda, where the military is allegedly detaining him.
“I request the government of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately. He was kidnapped last Saturday while he was in Nairobi for Hon Martha Karua’s book launch. I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala. 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 posted on her X handle.
Byanyima who is the executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), on Wednesday, asked Uganda’s military to release her from military detention in Kampala where he’s reportedly being held.
Besigye was traced to a military detention centre after he went missing in Nairobi on Saturday, November 16.
Besigye's disappearance comes in the wake of the July 23 arrest of 36 Ugandan activists linked to him in Kisumu. The activists were reportedly abducted, transported back to Uganda, and charged with treason before being remanded at Kitalya Prison. The group, recently released on bail, denied the charges, stating that they had been attending a workshop at the time of their arrest.
