Dr Kizza Besigye indisposed fails to attend court

CAPTION: Ugandan opposition leader and four-time presidential candidate Kizza Besigye, stands in the dock at the Makindye Martial Court in Kampala, Uganda, November 20. 2024. (File photo).

By Our reporter

KAMPALA – Retired Col Dr Kizza Besigye did not appear before Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court for further hearing of the inciting violence case.

On Tuesday, Besigye wrote to Buganda Road Court Senior Principal Grade One Magistrate Winnie Nankya who is the one handling his case that he is currently indisposed and unable to attend the Court.

He wrote through Simon Peter Siima  Officer in Charge of Luzira Upper Prison and the letter was delivered to the Magistrate.

“This is to inform you that I am currently indisposed and unable to attend court today. Yours sincerely, Kizza Besigye “,  Besigye wrote to the Court in a handwritten letter dated today which Our Reporter has seen.

However, Besigye’s lawyers led by Erias Lukwago said they needed a copy of the letter to verify its authenticity. According to Lukwago, they are concerned with the way the events are unfolding.

He said the lawyers, relatives and friends have since Friday attempted to visit him daily but have not succeeded like it was before. He said there is something the prisons are not telling them and they want to write to the Commissioner General of Prisons and visit tomorrow and do their due diligence.

Lukwago noted that they are worried about Besigye being indisposed and people not accessing him.

But Uganda Prisons Services Spokesperson Frank Baine said that Besigye is not unwell but he is just refusing to go to Court.

“He is not Unwell. He has no problem.  He is just refusing to go to Court. You know the decision was made. You know going to Court and they bring him back to prison doesn’t pay him. I think he is just refusing to go to Court”, said Baine.

Besigye who was being represented by a team of five lawyers including  Ronald Samuel Wanda, Kato and Kakuru Tumusiime, Abubaker Ssekanjako and  Proscovia Kunihira by the time his letter reached Court, had tasked the Prosecution to explain why the Prisons are keeping Besigye without a valid remand  Warrant from any courts of law.

State Attorney Allan Mucunguzi prayed for a production warrant saying that the witnesses they had summoned didn’t show up.

Lukwago said that they are being taken aback by the Prosecution and they are not taking the matter seriously, regarding the absence of Dr Kizza Besigye.

Lukwago said Besigye is out on bail but remains in prison on other charges from General Court Martial.   Lukwago added that, under all circumstances, Besigye was supposed to be present in Court because he was no longer in the hands of the Court Martial.

Lukwago said the Prosecution which represents the state should explain and justify why he is not in court.

According to Lukwago, if Prisons are the ones holding Besigye, they are doing it illegally and you cannot issue a production warrant.

He asked the Magistrate to force the Prosecution to close its case and proceed to the next step of submissions in no case to answer.

However, the Prosecution insisted that Besigye was out on bail in this case and that it was his lawyers who informed the Court that he was on remand.

State Attorney  Mucunguzi further noted that whether Besigye is in prison illegally or not is not an issue for this court to determine.

Mucunguzi further told the Court that they extracted the summons and served them with the Uganda Police Force in Masaka but the police officer who is supposed to be the last witness in this case seems to have defied the summons.

Mucunguzi said they will serve him again and if he doesn’t appear, they will ask for a warrant of arrest against him.

Besigye is jointly changed with Samuel Lubega Mukaaku also an opposition politician for inciting violence where charges stem from their alleged protest against the skyrocketing prices for commodities in the country.

Accordingly, a Production warrant has been issued directing prisons to produce Besigye on February 14th 2025.

Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima also showed up at Court.

Trouble for Besigye and Mukaaku stems from their June 14th, 2022 protest against the skyrocketing prices of commodities in the country.

According to the report by the Scene of Crime Officer Oryema, on June 14th 2022 at about 1:00 pm, information was received from the Officer-in-charge operation CPS  Kampala David  Nahamya that there was an alleged case of incitement of violence at Namirembe Road by Dr Besigye and Lubega who were in the motor vehicle registration number UAK 773F Prado TX white in colour.

A team of police officers that included detectives, forensic officers, a field force unit and the territorial police headed by Nahamya were dispatched to the scene.

The report shows that the crime scene of alleged incitement of violence was in between the Total Business Centre building and the Qualicel building along Namirembe Road central division in the Kampala district.

The report also shows that the team further noticed that the two occupants were Lubega and Besigye who were seen standing through the open roof of the said motor vehicle addressing the crowd using a white megaphone one at a time.

The team noticed that Nahamya talked to them to stop what they were doing but they ignored them and instead locked themselves in the vehicle there was no one in the driver’s seat, and this prompted him to order motor vehicle Registration Number UAK 773F with its occupants to be towed to Cps Kampala parking yard.

The report further indicates photos at the scene, the pounding of the vehicle, the searching of the vehicle, and the crowds listening to Besigye using a megaphone among others.

In October 2022, the  Magistrate  Asuman Muhumuza who was the first trial Magistrate ordered the State to return Besigye’s vehicle which had been impounded.   The vehicle to date has never been returned to Besigye.

In June 2023, the same court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Siena Owomugisha dismissed similar charges against  Besigye and set him free.

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