The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Pardoning made as Uganda is making international headlines for the jailing of Besigye
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has pardoned 19 members of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) following their pleading guilty to the charge of treachery and illegal possession of firearms and conviction by the Military Court Martial in Kampala.
“I hereby grant a pardon of the sentence to the persons of the offence of treachery… of the UPDF (army) act and unlawful possession of ammunitions contrary to the Firearms Act,” Museveni said in the pardon.
The sixteen members of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) were sentenced to five years in prison in October by a military court on charges of “illegal possession of explosive devices and treachery”. Three other NUP members were also convicted and sentenced on similar charges.
All had spent four years in jail before they were convicted, with the court deducting the time served from their sentence.
The charges against the group were all along dismissed as trumped-up and the proceedings and the trial of civilians in the Military Court Martial criticized by local and international human rights groups.
On Oct. 14 the 16 political prisoners finally pleaded guilty to after enduring four years of brutal, dehumanizing condition in jail.
Balam Barugahara, the new youthful Minister of Youth and Children Affairs who acted as an emissary of President Museveni reported offered the prisoners both carrots and coercion that led to their change of plea.
Balam made a visit to Kitalya Maximum Security Prison two days before the dramatic change of plea where the final deal was hammered with the supporters of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) demonstrating the far reaching power of the state.
“This has not just happened. This has been the process of a year. They have been persuaded, coerced, told different things got several visits from the state; they have been telling us these things even this decision to plead guilty,” said George Musisi, the lawyer representing the NUP detainees.
Pardoning of the NUP supporters was made as Uganda is making international headlines for the jailing of another opposition figure, Dr Kizza Besigye, formerly of the disbanded of the Forum for Democratic Change.
Kizza Besigye, a retired colonel of the UPDF was arraigned in the Military Court Martial together with another and charged with illegal possession of firearms and negotiating to buy arms abroad.
His appearance followed an international outcry by his wife, the Executive Director of UNAIDS Winnie Byanyima, who said Besigye was kidnapped in neighbouring Kenya on SaturdayNov.16 and sent back home where he was being held in a military jail.
In a post on X, Winnie Byanyima wrote that her 68-year-old husband had been seized in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, during a book launch event – and she demanded the Ugandan government free him.
Besigye was told during the military court hearing, held amid heavy security that he would remain in custody until 2 December.
Besigye – who has contested and lost four presidential elections against President Yoweri Museveni – appeared along with his co-accused, opposition politician Obedi Lutale, who also denied the charges.
The four counts they face include being found with two pistols and ammunition in a hotel in the Kenyan capital and negotiating for arms with foreigners in the Swiss city of Geneva, the Greek capital, Athens, and Nairobi.
On his arrival at the Makindye military court – after being incommunicado for days, Besigye waved to the gathered journalists and senior members of his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
As the hearing got under way, Besigye objected to being tried in a court martial, saying that if there were any charges against him, he should be tried in a civilian court.
But he was overruled and the hearing continued.
In her tweet, Byanyima said: “He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?”
Besigye used to be Museveni’s personal doctor but went on to become an opposition leader and has referred to the leader of the East African country, who has been in power since 1986, as a “dictator”.
He has alleged that previous presidential elections were rigged – a claim denied by the government – and has been arrested on numerous occasions in the past.
On one occasion he was shot in the hand; on another he suffered eye injuries after being doused in pepper spray.
Besigye has been less active in politics in the last couple of years, and did not contest the 2021 election, telling his supporters in April that he had taken a political break. But he announced he was returning to the political fray for the next two years to sort out the “chaos” in his party, which has split into two factions. He said he wanted to retire at 70 and would “push hard” to help Ugandans in the little time he had.
