Editorial Team/Staff Writers
Jailed opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye could be hanged next month, army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has said, just days after Dr Besigye’s wife said she doubted he would have a fair trial.
Gen Kainerugaba’s remarks, made in a social media post, were the latest in a series about Dr Besigye, whom he has publicly accused of trying to assassinate his father, Yoweri Museveni.
“I think we might hang Besigye next month. If we don’t hang him, we will shoot him dead. That will be a great day for Uganda,” he wrote on X.
Some Ugandans have said that Gen Kainerugaba, who deletes some of his controversial posts fearing a backlash, is not always serious about what he posts.
But many people he has posted about, especially supporters of the National Unity Platform, vowing to take a hard line against them, have either been held in prison without trial for months or have been tortured.
Notable among them is Eddie Mutwe, the bodyguard of NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine. Mr Mutwe, whose real name is Eddie Ssebuwufu, was abducted in May last year and remains incarcerated.
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Gen Kainerugaba also recently shared a photo of Mr Kyagulanyi’s wife on social media after soldiers raided their home and roughed her up, asking for her husband’s whereabouts. Both have since left the country with their children.
In his Friday posts, Gen Kainerugaba also attacked Dr Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, and Miria Matembe, a former MP and cabinet minister, who fell out with Mr Museveni after he moved to remove term limits from the constitution to extend his rule.
“I advise these OLD women to COMPLETELY SHUT UP!” he wrote. “Winnie or Matembe do not help Besigye at all when they talk like the stupid chicken they are!! They should completely SHUT UP!! We shall sort this out as Generals and Men!”
Dr Besigye, a retired colonel, was abducted in November 2024 in Nairobi along with his aide, Obeid Lutale, and brought back to Kampala. He was arraigned in a military court, but was transferred to a civilian court after a Supreme Court ruling against civilians being tried in courts-martial.
Ms Byanyima said in a recent BBC interview that her husband’s trial had been conducted in breach of the law.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OUR READERS OFTEN ASK
“What is my concern is that it [trial] will not be fairly concluded,” she said. “Everything about this case has been in breach of the laws of Uganda—starting with how he was abducted from Kenya, bundled in a car and taken across the border at night, dumped in a military jail, dragged before a military court. We had to fight to take the case to the Supreme Court to ask for a ruling.”
She said Besigye’s legal team got a ruling that paved the way for him to be tried in a civilian court. “But they would not release him even though the Supreme Court had announced that he should not be there. He had to go on hunger strike.”
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