Kizza Besigye’s Situation Alarming – Justice Minister

The government has admitted that the situation of the former presidential candidate, Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye is alarming.

This was during Tuesday’s plenary sitting in which the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among questioned the government side about steps taken to comply with the Supreme Court directive of 31st January 2025, regarding the unconstitutional trial of civilians in military courts.

Besigye was arrested together with Hajj. Obeid Lutale on 16th November, 2024 during their visit to Nairobi, Kenya, and later charged before the Army Court.

“How long will it take to transfer all active cases involving civilians from the General Court Martial to the civilian courts? What sustainable action has been taken to address the concerns surrounding the health of Dr Besigye?  As the House of Representatives, we are a voice of the voiceless. We were elected to speak for those people out there who cannot be in this House. The continued detention of unwell people sets a dangerous precedent that may be applied to any of us,” said Among.

She added that there is a need to explore other appropriate modalities of confinement, if necessary, than keeping the ailing suspect in unfavourable conditions that may potentially be fatal.  

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Nobert Mao, told parliament that he had on Tuesday morning held a conversation with the Commissioner General of the Uganda Prisons Service, Johnson Byabashaija to find out the current situation of Col. Kizza Besigye.

“As of today, Col. Kizza Besigye has been on hunger strike for six days, this is his seventh day. He is only taking water…he is not eating food. The Commissioner General informed me, that because of the hunger strike, his health had deteriorated and therefore, he had to be evacuated to a hospital. His doctor took charge of the evacuation in the presence of Col. Besigye’s sister, Dr. Olive Kobusingye. The Commissioner General said his health condition is alarming,” Mao said in part.  

The Minister added that under the laws of Uganda, any person, especially those who are having health issues are entitled to treatment and in the case of Dr Besigye, the prison authorities were able to take him to the hospital, comprehensive tests were carried out and the Doctors are managing him.

“The Commissioner General also informed me that Col. Kizza Besigye has continued, and continues with the hunger strike. And that means of course, that any medical response will not have a major impact. He will not improve because of the hunger strike,” he added.

Speaker Among interacted with the Minister’s statement noting that Besigye was not on hunger strike because he wanted to, but because he believed that he was unfairly treated.

Mao acknowledged that the hunger strike was a form of protest but it was not his purpose to go into detail about why Besigye was on hunger strike.

“I have simply reported his condition and we admit that it is alarming,” said Mao.

The Minister further explained that after the Supreme Court judgment, the Attorney General wrote to the Ministry of Defence and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) informing them about the transfer of cases. He added that the Attorney General also on 3rd February 2025, wrote to the Chief Justice requesting the appointment of a judicial officer to liaise between the actors and that the Principal Judge was then appointed on 4th February by the Chief Justice as the liaison officer.

Mao further noted that the Attorney General’s Chambers on 6th February, forwarded the letter of the Chief Justice to the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs and DPP.

“Around that time, we were here and I came to the floor of the House that it was the duty of Dr. Besigye’s lawyers and lawyers of those in the court martial to extract a decree…that is part of their responsibility to their client. This decree only arrived on the 13th of February. Almost two weeks after the judgment. That is when we received the draft decree. Unfortunately, the draft decree had errors, some errors were as obvious as wrong names, for instance,” Mao told Parliament.

 

The Minister noted that on Friday, 14th February, the Attorney General’s Chambers corrected the errors and sent the corrected decree back to Dr. Besigye’s lawyers and that today, the lawyers are yet to return the correct decree.

“We are concerned by the slow pace of Col. Besigye’s lawyers. You cannot take two weeks if you are concerned about the condition of your client, rather than the politics surrounding that… they should have acted as fast as the Attorney General’s Chambers,” said Mao.

Following this statement which raised more queries from a section of Members of Parliament, the Speaker suspended the House to hold a private meeting with a section of Ministers and Opposition MPs to come up with a harmonized position.

On resumption of the House, the Speaker reported that during their harmonization meeting, several issues had been raised and that they agreed to come up with resolutions.

“As a team, we tasked the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the Deputy Attorney General, the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, and the Leader of Government Business to go and follow up on the case and we expect them to come back and report by 4:00 pm today,” said Among.