Nyong’o condemns arrest of Ugandan politicians in Kisumu

By Peter Ochieng

Kisumu governor Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o has condemned the arrest of Ugandan opposition politicians, during a meeting in Kisumu.

The 36 from the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party were reportedly attacked and violently arrested from a guest house in Kisumu last week, before being chauffeured back to Uganda under tight security.

“According to Ugandan opposition leader, Dr Kiiza Besigye, the FDC politicians had just concluded a meeting at the Ukweli Pastoral Center on the outskirts of Kisumu City on 23rd July 2024, when a group of armed people believed to be Ugandan and Kenyan security personnel broke into their rooms, assaulted, arrested and drove them back to Uganda in the middle of the night,” Nyong’o said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The county boss said he was reliably informed that the politicians had been lawfully allowed to enter Kenya, by immigration officials to attend the week-long workshop.

“Although the County Government of Kisumu has no link with the politicians, we condemn in the strongest terms possible the human rights violations meted against them while within the territory of Kisumu County,” he said.

He went ahead to challenge the Kenyan Police to clarify if its officers were involved in the attack, and hurried deportation of the Ugandans and the reason behind the incident.

Upon arrival in Uganda, the 36 politicians were reportedly detained in ‘safe houses’ of Uganda’s External Security Organisation (ESO), before being taken to Kololo grounds, where they were ‘paraded before the media as having been handed over by the Kenyan government for engaging in suspicious circumstances.’

They were later charged with terrorism, having been arrested in Kenya for attending ‘terrorism training.’

FDC Party leader Dr Kiiza Besigye condemned the incident, adding that President Yoweri Museveni’s administration has previously charged him over terrorism related crimes, without evidence.

“I have, previously, been charged with the same offence of terrorism in military and civil court simultaneously. I’ve been charged with treason twice; rape once; illegal possession of guns; and countless times with incitement to violence, and illegal assembly, all without the any iota of evidence. Total abuse of the judicial system!”

The 36 have been remanded until August 13, 2024.