Kizza Besigye dumped at his Kampala home at night
Friday August 24 2018
Security operatives dump Dr Kizza Besigye at his home on the night of August 23, 2018. PHOTO | COURTESY
Minutes before he was taken into custody, Ugandan opposition leader and former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye said that he was tired of arrests, spending the entire day at a police station, and later being driven home by the police in the cover of darkness.
"It doesn’t make sense," he told journalists on Thursday.
"It doesn’t make sense for people [police] to keep looking for you, asking what you will do the next day," he added.
The script was no different on Thursday when police surrounded his home and that of his party Forum for Democratic Change secretary general Ingrid Turunawe and Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago.
On this day, popular musician-turned-lawmaker Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, was to be presented in court in what would be his first public appearance since his arrest nearly two weeks ago.
Uganda has witnessed sporadic protests over his arrest and alleged torture with the government attracting condemnation from rights groups and international community over its handling of protestors.
Dr Besigye said his "long day" on Thursday began when he went to check on "the barricades around our home."
He said he was "violently grabbed by the 'policemen' and detained in Naggalama Police Station for 'Preventive Arrest'".
The officers are said to have driven off at breakneck speed to Naggalama Police Station where he spent the day.
Meanwhile, MP Bobi Wine was freed by the court martial after case in which he was being charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition was dropped. But his freedom only lasted the few minutes he took to walk to the courtroom doors where the police was waiting to rearrest him.
He was taken to a magistrate's court and charged with treason.
It is not clear why the longtime ally turned rival of President Yoweri Museveni, Dr Besigye, was arrested.
But in the middle of Thursday night, he was returned to his home and dumped at the gate.
“Impunity reigns in Uganda but we’re seeing last days of NRM/M7 Junta!” He tweeted.
According to the authorities, Dr Besigye was taken into custody under preventive arrest, a precautionary measure.
He is required to appear at the Kasangati Police Station at 8.30am on August 28, 2018.