Uganda’s Besigye arrested for attempting to release election results

Uganda’s opposition leader and Presidential candidate Kizza Besigye was arrested Friday marking his third arrest in four days.

Police got wind of a planned press conference by the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate which was scheduled for Friday morning at the party’s headquarters in Kampala and stormed the offices to stop it.

After a closed door meeting with Besigye, the Police Director of Human Resources Development Andrew Kaweesi was hurriedly driven off before returning to address the media.

The activities in and outside FDC offices signified that there had been no consensus between the party officials and the police with the party advising the media to stay put for the briefing.

In his address, Kaweesi said they had intelligence that Besigye was planning to release his own results in his scheduled press briefing saying the only body mandated by law to do so is the Electoral Commission (EC).

Early this week, Uganda President and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni had warned Besigye against holding parallel tallying and announcement of results saying such a move would lead to his arrest.

Besigye was also reportedly arrested on Thursday evening after he reportedly demanded the opening of a house believed to be a centre for rigging the elections.

Reports indicate that Besigye had demanded that the house at Naguru in the outskirts of Uganda’s capital Kampala be opened for inspection claiming it was being used to rig votes.

The police, however, denied the claims saying the opposition leader was not arrested but escorted to his home.

@benjaminwafula