Besigye Will Be a Free Person Soon! Declares Nadduli As Olara Otunnu’s Brother Assures ‘Saleh is Doing His Best’ to Rescue M7’s Former Doctor

Senior Citizen and former rebel NRA witchdoctor Hajji Abdul Nadduli, who is also a former Minister and long-serving Luwero LC5 Chairman, says that veteran opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye “will be free very soon.”

Nadduli says he has it on good authority that the Gen Salim Saleh-spearheaded negotiations have been on for several weeks and there is hope that the President’s brother, renowned for his magnanimity and politics of moderation, will deliver the desired results.

Describing Gen Saleh as “the right person assigned by the President,” Nadduli predicts that the Besigye imprisonment saga, which has seen the retired colonel caged in Luzira for now two years, will be brought to an amicable end and real soon.

Nadduli says that millions of Ugandans who love, adore and respect Dr. Kizza Besigye “shouldn’t get worried” about the FDC founding President because Gen Saleh has what it takes to “handle the issue very well.”

Nadduli, who these days spends much of his time chilling at his country home outside Wobulenzi Town Council, currently serves as a senior Presidential advisor to the President and is a respected veteran of the five year NRA bush war which brought Museveni to power in January 1986.

According to reporting by the Weekend Vision, Nadduli’s utterances seem well corroborated. The state-owned newspaper quotes Prof Ogenga Otunnu, of the DePaul University in the US and who is also a brother to UN top job contender Ambassador Olara Otunnu, as making it clear that: “Besigye must get out of prison, recover fully and start engaging with the community [the way he used to do].”

Prof Ogenga’s utterances carry great significancy because he is an influential assistant to Gen Salim Saleh, President Museveni’s very influential brother, who the CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba says has been assigned by the veteran leader from Rwakitura to be the one resolve Dr. Besigye’s alleged treason issues.

Prof Ogenga is the man heading a six member committee which Gen Saleh has put in place to help him work out the fine details and coordinate the Besigye freedom project. Ogenga says that, in Gen Saleh’s universe, it was realized long time ago that the Besigye matter is political and will have to ultimately be resolved politically and less through courts of law.

This is so because Gen Saleh and his advisors like Prof Ogenga realize that treason is more of a political matter than being legal.

Ogenga says people on Gen Saleh’s side and Besigye’s side too are determined and are working hard to find common ground so that the retired colonel once again becomes a free man. He says Besigye’s healing, physical and emotional well being are very important as is the case for every other Ugandan citizen.

Peof Ogenga says that the negotiations have to culminate into the restoration of freedom for Besigye, his assistant Obed Lutale and Capt Denis Oola who continues to face treason trial along with them in Justice Emmanuel Baguma’s court.

The release and restoration of freedom for Lord Mayor emeritus Erias Lukwago is also part of the Ogenga-spearheaded negotiations. Dr. Besigye and Lutale have had their freedoms deprived since their 16th November 2024 arrest in Nairobi where they had travelled to participate in the launching of Martha Karua’s memoirs and book project.

Prof Ogenga is convinced that the resolution of the Besigye issue will come through political negotiations rather than court processes because by its nature, treason is a political matter more than its legal.

PFF big man Wasswa Birigwa says that, much as they as a party aren’t yet involved, they will be grateful if such negotiations result into Besigye, Lutale and others regaining their freedom. Information Minister Kasule Lumumba, according to Weekend Vision reporting, says she is aware of the Saleh-led negotiations as a means to resolve the Besigye matter.

PFF Ag Spokesperson Harold Kaija, who is like a foster son to Besigye, says his boss wants to be tried fully so that he has a platform to demonstrate his innocence, as opposed to back door deal-making. Veteran journalist John Kakande, who served as editor New Vision for decades, says the Besigye he knows is too principled and he would rather die in prison than sign up to an unprincipled opportunistic arrangement with Gen Salim Saleh simply because he wants to regain his freedom.

Winnie Byanyima, the wife to Dr Kizza Besigye, says as a family all they want is for the state to respect Dr. KB’s right to bail so that his health gets replenished before its too late and he is able to subsequently stand trial. Byanyima says this is a right every Ugandan must enjoy. She says this is why they are going to apply for bail for a 5th time before Justice Baguma.

She is imploring the judge to expeditiously fix the hearing date and grant bail so that Besigye can be flown abroad to access the appropriate treatment. Upon recovery, he can return to face trial. Currently, Besigye is in a very frail state and only communicates through an alphabetical chat.

To be able to construct a sentence or communicate anything, a chat is brought before him so that he constructs words through pointing at letters. Winnie Byanyima says Gen Saleh’s good intentions shouldn’t stop at Dr. Besigye but should extend to rescue all the other Ugandans who, for 40 years, have endured living in one big prison called Uganda.

Former Aruu County MP Odonga Otto, who is among the young people Besigye mentored for many years in FDC, says he is aware there are efforts by Saleh to find political resolution of the Besigye problem.

Former Ruhaama County MP Augustine Ruzindana, who was part of Museveni’s FRONASA in the 1970s and later on joined Besigye to found FDC in 2005, says priority should be on enabling the NRA bush war doctor to access appropriate medical treatment abroad.

Salim Uhuru, the Kampala Central Mayor who also sits on the NRM CEC, says he wants to speak to Gen Museveni urging him to prioritize reconciliation and forgiveness not only of Dr. Kizza Besigye but all the other political prisoners including NUP activists. He says forgiving Dr. KB and all the others shouldn’t be hard for Gen Museveni because he has always been willing to turn a page and let peaceful co-existence prevail. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).

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