Bobi Wine snatched off Rwanda plane at Entebbe

Moments after the RwandaAir morning flight landed at Entebbe International Airport yesterday, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi a.k.a Bobi Wine, president of the country’s leading opposition political party, the National Unity Platform, expected to walk out to a rapturous welcome from supporters.
 
There was no sign that within minutes he would be snatched, dragged away and forced to enter the country “illegally”, which left him “officially not in Uganda”, as he said yesterday.
Last evening, the ministry of Internal Affairs spokesman, Mr Simon Mundeyi said the dramatic events at Entebbe took place as a result of “an emergency security decision taken to avert looming chaos at the airport”.

READ: Bobi Wine: Goons, soldiers grabbed me at Entebbe Airport

Mr Kyagulanyi’s homecoming was supposed to have been marked by a huge welcoming party, with throngs of supporters riding along as he swept into the country’s capital in Kampala.
He was wrong. A day earlier, the police issued a statement declaring any welcome procession an illegal assembly and warned NUP supporters, politicians and just about everybody else of arrest if they defied the order.

All day on Wednesday, men believed to be soldiers from the army’s Special Forces Command, which guards the country’s President, joined police and regular troops in setting up security points across Entebbe Municipality and along the 45-kilometre highway to Kampala. 
With security very tight outside, waiting on the airport’s airside tarmac yesterday morning were men wearing plainclothes, adorned with high visibility jackets. As he disembarked from the aircraft, the NUP leader probably mistook them for the ground-handling staff. They were not. 

Within seconds of his feet touching the ground, the men swung into action, surrounded and grabbed his arms from both sides. His loud protestations were as futile as were his struggles to break free from their vice-like grip. Mr Kyagulanyi was frog-marched towards an unmarked car, bundled inside and whisked away. 

He was not taken through the usual Customs and Immigrations desks. His passport was not stamped. There was no official record that he had re-entered the country weeks after he left for a political mobilisation trip to Canada and South Africa.
From his account, the vehicle sped off for the Old Entebbe Airport, from where he was forced into another waiting car with blacked-out windows and crammed full with men in police and military uniform. 
It is in that vehicle that the NUP leader was spirited off to his home far away in Magere, Wakiso District.

Speaking to Monitor, Internal Affairs spokesman, Mr Mundeyi said this was done because of the nature of the situation.
“If you have emergencies, certain things are handled extraordinarily. That is what happened in the case of Bobi Wine. We can’t afford to see people having issues; what we did was, first of all, to remove Bobi Wine because he was the centre of attraction for everybody who was at the airport,”Mr Mundeyi said.

Adding that “by removing Bobi Wine, the centre of attraction, then everybody would disappear”. 
“If we had insisted that he goes through the normal immigration formalities, it would have caused some chaos at the airport and [yet] the airport is a very sensitive place,” Mr Mundeyi said, and also claimed that this was to save the opposition politician from possible harm. 
“We felt that having him go through immigration formalities would, first of all; cause a delay, give time for chaos to build up at the airport, what we did solved a security puzzle,” he said.

Daily Monitor also learned from Mr Mundeyi that immigration retained Mr Kyagulanyi’s passport. He did not indicate how that came about, only saying that immigration formalities missed would be quietly completed and the travel document returned to its owner.
“We shall handle that without the public even knowing. We shall have to enter his details into the system and ensure he doesn’t get a problem next time he flies out of Entebbe,” he said.

Bobi tour
The opposition leader, who only weeks ago was touring the country and addressing mammoth rallies, has now accused the security forces of violating his right to freedom of movement.
“Their smooth welcome, included denying me the right to travel the way I want and to respect my programmes. I was not supposed to address the media from here (Magere), I was supposed to address the media from Kamwokya, our current headquarters which is right now under siege by the police and the military,” he said at his home.

“The welcome included arresting more than 300 of our supporters and members, grabbing me from the tarmac [and forcing me] into a waiting vehicle”.
It is not clear if the incident, the second of its kind involving an opposition politician under President Museveni’s government, will have any diplomatic or other implications regarding passenger safety protocols as laid out under the 1944 UN convention on civil aviation. 

Mr Vianney Luggya, the spokesman of the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), said he was not aware of any regulation that had been breached by the security operatives.
“First of all, I don’t speak for immigration. Neither do I speak for national security, I think it’s better to speak to national security over this issue. Various agencies of government have different mandates to execute at the airport, that’s the most important thing,” he said.
Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, SSP Patrick Onyango yesterday told media that Mr Kyagulanyi was not arrested, but escorted home, arriving at around 11.20 am.

“Disregard rumours of his arrest by propagandists. Business activities and movements along Entebbe road, within Kampala and Gayaza, are flowing smoothly,” SSP Onyango said, adding: “Security agencies accompanied him to his residence in Magere, Kasangati. We extend our appreciation to the security agencies for their efforts in maintaining the safety and security of our nation”. 

Acknowledging the arrest of some NUP supporters, including an MP, SSP Onyango gave the impression that it was business as usual. 

The country manager, RwandAir, Mr Ivan Mugisha said he was not aware that Mr Kyagulanyi was aboard one of their aircrafts, promising to call back after speaking to relevant authorities. 
At his home, Mr Kyagulanyi was joined by other party leaders, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Mathias Mpuuga and other MPs who condemned what they said was the arrest of Mr Kyagulanyi and police brutality on his supporters.

By last night, Mr Kyagulanyi was posting on social media (X, Twitter) that the army and police had broken through his wall fence, poured reinforcements into his compound and blocked visitors from coming in.
In Parliament, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said: “[The NUP president] was simply offered free transport and security to his home, in order to avoid disruption of businesses along Kampala-Entebbe road.”

Yesterday’s incident recalls an equally dramatic October 3, 2016 event when security agents forced opposition stalwart, Dr Kizza Besigye off a Kenya Airways flight and arrested him just as he returned home from Geneva, Switzerland.
Three years later, Dr Besigye successfully sued the aviation agency in the High Court. Judge Musa Ssekaana ruled in his favour, awarding the former leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change party Shs 10 million in damages for violating his rights to freedom of movement, and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, among others, as enshrined under Objective I(i), II(i) of the National Objectives and Principles of State Policy and Articles 20, 24, 29 and 50 of the Constitution of Uganda.

The judge observed that Dr Besigye was embarrassed by the police when they snatched him from the aircraft’s stairway, noting that they ought to have arrested him in a dignified manner at the airport which is a gateway for tourists and foreigners.
“The police knew well in advance that they were to effect arrest of the plaintiff on arrival. They should have presented written reasons for his arrest at the airport...,” he said.