Besigye faces charges of unlawful swearing-in

Moroto. Former FDC presidential candidate Kizza Besigye will be charged with unlawful swearing in as the elected president of Uganda, police have said.
Speaking to Saturday Monitor by telephone yesterday, police spokesperson Fred Enanga said police were compiling evidence and scanning the video that has been circulating on social media showing Dr Besigye swearing in as president of Uganda.
“[Dr] Besigye has cases to answer because he, first of all, disobeyed an interim court order that had banned him from holding defiance campaigns,” Mr Enanga said.

Dr Besigye eluded a 24-hour security cordon at his residence in Kasangati, Wakiso District on Wednesday and burst into the city centre where he was arrested.
After his arrest, a video was immediately posted on social media sites showing Dr Besigye swearing in at an unidentified location.
In the video, Dr Besigye is seen arriving at the venue and waving to cheering crowds with the FDC party V-sign.
He is flanked by the FDC chairman Wasswa Biriggwa and outgoing Leader of Opposition in Parliament Wafula Oguttu and other party officials. He is seen swearingin guided by a “Lady Chief Justice” whose face is back to the camera.

Dr Besigye takes both a presidential oath and oath of allegiance and says: “What is happening today is not an ordinary swearing-in ceremony. This is because our country is in a rather unique and unenviable place of not running according to the Constitution. This has been occasioned by [Mr] Museveni and his regime….”
Shortly after Uganda Communications Commission shut down device handled social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter citing security reasons.
After being arrested at Ben Kiwanuka Street, Dr Besigye was briefly detained at Nagalama Police Station and later transferred to Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja, before he was airlifted to Moroto District in Karamoja where he is currently detained.

He was flown in a helicopter that landed at Nadunget Airstrip at about 6pm on Wednesday and was driven to Moroto Police Station under tight security in a white double cabin pick-up whose front and rear number plates were covered.
Currently, there is heavy deployment of regular police and the military at Moroto Police Station. UPDF and police vehicles are patrolling outside the station.
On Thursday Dr Besigye refused to take food, tooth brush, tooth paste and bathing water offered by police. He instead appointed Mr Simon Nangiro, the FDC coordinator for Karamoja sub-region, to take charge of his welfare.

Journalists have been barred from accessing Dr Besigye with complainants reporting cases being directed to make their statements at police outposts.
Inmates at the station were also evacuated to Rupa, Kidepo and Moroto South Division police posts.
The Constitution provides that a person arrested for suspected crime is produced in court not later than 48 hours from the time of arrest. Thursday was declared a public holiday because of President Museveni’s swearing-in.
But by the time we went to press yesterday, Dr Besigye had not been produced in court.

Colonial practice

“Exiling” political opponents to Karamoja was used by the British colonialists who often arrested leaders of the independence struggle such as Ignatius Musaazi, Augustine Kamya, Godfrey Binaisa and Paulo Muwanga among others and detained them in the arid Karamoja sub-region because of their political activism and opposition against the colonial government.

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