Kiiza Besigye Flees Country to UK!

Dr. Kizza Besigye, the leader of the country's largest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and the IPC presidential candidate 2011-2016.


Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe was born in Rukungiri, southwestern Uganda, on 22 April 1956. He attended Kinyasano Primary School and Mbarara Junior School. Both his parents died before he finished primary school. He later joined Kampala's Kitante High School and then Kigezi High School in Kabale.

Besigye enrolled at Makerere University in 1975, and was a resident of Mitchell Hall. He graduated with a degree in human medicine in 1980. For his involvement in politics as a member of the UPM, he was arrested, imprisoned and tortured, but managed to escape from prison. He fled to Kenya, where he briefly worked for the Aga Khan Hospital and later Kenyatta National Hospital - both in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi - before joining Museveni's rebel National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) in 1982.

While in the bush, Dr. Besigye served as a personal physician to President Yoweri Museveni. With the victory of the National Resistance Movement in January 1986, Dr. Besigye was appointed Minister of State for Internal Affairs. He later held the positions of Minister of State in the president's office and National Political Commissar. In 1991, he became commanding officer of the mechanized regiment in Masaka, central Uganda, and in 1993 was appointed the army's chief of logistics and engineering.

Sensing a drift in the practice of agreed principles by the regime he was serving, Besigye repeatedly brought up the issue in various high level meetings to try and correct the negative trend. These calls for a candid review of the direction the regime was taking were ignored. In 1999 Besigye wrote a document critical of the government, entitled "An Insider's View of How the NRM Lost the Broad Base", (link to the document) meant for internal NRA discussion. The document, which was leaked to the press, said the NRM was becoming a sectarian plutocracy and a one-man dictatorship. In reaction government dragged Besigye before the military Court Marshal for "airing his views in the wrong forum". Intense pressure from various quarters saw the government capitulate on the trial. On 20 October 2000, at the rank of Colonel, Besigye retired from the army and returned to civilian life. A week later he announced that he would run against Museveni in the 2001 elections.

The election was marred by widespread vote rigging, violence, and coercion of voters. Besigye petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the election results. The panel of five judges voted 5-0 that there had been cheating and widespread irregularities, but decided 3-2 not to annul the elections. From that time Besigye was kept under constant security surveillance, and was on a number of occasions prevented from leaving the country on business trips. Once he was almost abducted by people in UPDF uniform on his way to Mbarara, but the government refused to investigate the incident.

In June 2001, Besigye was arrested and questioned by the security agencies over allegations of treason. The government accused him of being behind a shadowy rebel group - the People's Redemption Army (PRA) - allegedly based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In August 2001, Besigye fled the country, citing persecution by the state. He lived in South Africa for four years, during which time he continued to criticize the government mainly over its poor record on democracy, human rights, and corruption. He returned to Uganda on 26 October 2005, just in time to register as a voter in the 2006 elections. He then travelled around the country making consultations on his plans to run for president in the 2006 elections. His plans came to an abrupt halt on 14 November when he was arrested on charges of treason and rape. The treason charges pertained to his alleged links to the PRA and the notoriously brutal, 20-year-old northern Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebellion. The rape charge related to a 1997 accusation by the daughter of a deceased friend.

His arrest sparked riots in Kampala and around the country. The ruling government was accused of trumping up charges against Museveni’s political rival. Both the local and international community came down heavily against Museveni's administration, urging it to release Besigye on bail.

The government reacted by banning all public rallies, demonstrations, assemblies or seminars related to the trial of Besigye. It further barred the media from discussing the trial; threatening media houses with the revocation of their licenses should they refuse to heed the ban.

On 25 November, Uganda's high court granted Besigye bail, but he was immediately sent back to jail on charges of terrorism and the illegal possession of weapons. Besigye denied the charges. He was finally released on bail by the high court on 6 January 2006. Besigye was acquitted of the rape charges, but not before it became evident that the state had falsified police records and bribed witnesses to make the charges stick. The treason case hang around Besigye’s neck all through the 2006 presidential campaign, and cost him valuable time on the campaign trail. (Court recently dismissed all charges against Besigye and his co-accused.)

Besigye is married to Winnie Byanyima, an aeronautical and mechanical engineer who currently works as Director of Gender at UNDP in New York. Besigye and Winnie have one son, Anselm. Besigye has an older son, Adam Ampa, from his first marriage. He enjoys reading, and when not busy with political activities, is often to be found at his home in Kasangati with a book on his porch.