Besigye stuck at Jomo Kenyatta Airport

Opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, is stuck at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Kenya after he was stopped from boarding a Kenya Airways flight to Uganda Wednesday morning.

Sources tell Daily Monitor that the airline’s officials approached Dr Besigye and claimed they were informed by Ugandan authorities that if he was on board the morning flight the aircraft would not be allowed to land at Entebbe International Airport, 40 km outside Kampala.

The Ugandan government however denied any such communication. When contacted Internal Affairs Minister Kirunda Kivejinja said the government can’t act crudely “and that Uganda doesn’t have any authority on Kenya Airways flights.”

“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,” Mr Kivejinja said.

The opposition leader has been receiving treatment at Nairobi Hospital for multiple injuries sustained when security personnel attacked him on April 28 as he tried to drive into Kampala City.

He has now pitched camp in the Kenya government lounge of the JKIA departures lounge and is demanding an official and written explanation from Kenya Airways.

The latest development is yet another twist to the saga which has characterized the Uganda government’s heavy-handed clamp-down on the walk-to-work protests against high fuel prices and the rising cost of living.

Dr Besigye is one of hundreds of people who have been wounded in confrontations with the police and army that have left at least nine people dead from gunshot wounds.

Police had on Tuesday indicated that they would allow Dr Besigye to enter the country but drive from Entebbe in a convoy of not more than three vehicles escorted by police.