Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi on May 11,2011. The leader of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was to return home after almost two weeks in Kenya. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE
By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, May 11 2011 at 22:21
Posted Wednesday, May 11 2011 at 22:21
Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye missed a second flight home in unexplained circumstances on Wednesday evening.
He was scheduled to leave on the 5.50pm flight, almost nine hours after he was first barred from boarding a Kenya Airways flight to Entebbe.
Sources said Dr Besigye would leave on Friday, a day after President Yoweri Museveni’s swearing in for the fourth term.
On Tuesday, the opposition leader said he would mobilise his supporters for a ‘walk-to-prayer’ protests to coincide with Museveni’s big day.
But on Wednesday morning, Dr Besigye was denied access to the flight after receiving the boarding pass allegedly on orders of Ugandan authorities.
“Dr Besigye could not board the aircraft as Kenya Airways had to first ascertain this information without inconveniencing the other passengers destined for Entebbe,” the airline’s managing director, Mr Titus Naikuni, said in a statement.
He also apologised to the Ugandan leader for the inconvenience. (READ: KQ confirm Besigye flight)
Dr Besigye said a woman claiming to be the airline’s airport manager had warned him that they were acting on government orders.
“She said that she had received a call from the Kenyan Airways Chief Executive Officer that he had received instructions from the Ugandan government that the plane would not be allowed to land if I am on board,” he said. But Kampala dismissed the claims.
“If we managed to allow him to leave, how can we stop him from coming back? We had all the powers to stop him from going there after all; Uganda doesn’t have any authority on Kenya Airways flights,” Internal Affairs minister Kirunda Kivejinja told the Daily Monitor in Kampala.
Earlier, Dr Besigye warned he would camp at the VIP departure lounge to protest abuse of his rights by Ugandan and Kenyan governments. But government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Dr Besigye’s travel plans were private and he was free to leave.
The leader of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was returning home after almost two weeks in Kenya.
He was discharged from the Nairobi Hospital on Friday where he was treated for injuries sustained in four consecutive violent arrests by the police for orchestrating the walk-to-work protests over rising cost of living. (READ: Uganda's Besigye leaves hospital)
Scores of people have been killed since the peaceful protests started on April 11.
Uganda authorities had on Tuesday indicated that they would allow Dr Besigye to return on condition he did not leave the airport in a convoy of more than three vehicles escorted by police.
On Tuesday, the opposition leader said he would lead protests to coincide with President Yoweri Museveni’s swearing in for a fourth term on Thursday.
“This is a swearing in of an illegitimate president who has been rejected by the Ugandan people. And I think Mr Museveni has every reason to worry about the illegitimacy of his presidency,” Dr Besigye told journalists in Nairobi.
He said the protests would continue until the government stops wasting billions of shillings on military and grand corruption.
“We have to take the risk and pay the cost if we must make our country better. Even the most ignorant person in Uganda knows that things could get better,” he said.
In Parliament, Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo claimed the government was working with Museveni to frustrate Dr Besigye. “What has shocked us today is that the Kenyan government has refused to let Dr Besigye fly back to his country. Under what law can the Kenya government detain Dr Besigye?” Mr Kilonzo asked.
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