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Besigye serves prison authorities on dose of defiance
Dr. Kizza Besigye
Dr. Kizza Besigye has proved over time to be a genius when it comes to beating authority at their own game.
He first did so in 2001 when he beat a 24/7 surveillance programme that government had placed all around him, escaping to South Africa. Then, President Yoweri Museveni had tasked the late Maj. Gen. Noble Mayombo to seal off all exit routes that Besigye was likely to exploit to flee from house arrest.
But Besigye pulled off the daring escape all the same, leaving Museveni and Mayombo dumb founded and the whole country bewildered.
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) politician has since and on many occasions fooled a bevy of security placed at his home in Kasangati to stop him leaving the residence and ended up in Kampala.
It was the same story when he was arrested in Kampala in May this year and flown to Jinja and later Moroto before being transferred to Luzira prison on his current charges of treason.
After writing two letters and dispatching them from inside Luzira prison with one slamming what he calls partiality in the judiciary and the other calling on the Judicial Service Commission (JDC) to investigate the suitability of Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma as a judge, the prison authorities banned Besigye from sending out any form of communication without their prior authority.
That is how the prison authorities stopped Besigye from sending out a congratulatory Idd message to Muslims who broke fasting on Wednesday.
But, Besigye being Besigye, the politician managed nonetheless to catch the prisons’ people napping and sent the congratulatory message to the Muslims.
Unlike the previous two letters which were written in hand, Besigye upped his game this time round. The Idd message was typed and then signed by the politician himself.
That being the case, it appears Besigye instructed his people outside prison to print the Idd message on his behalf and leave space for him to append his signature.
After printing the message, it is assumed that one of his visitors took the letter to him to simply append his signature and afterwards sneaked it out of prison for onward transmission to the Muslim fraternity.
While we were unable to establish whether the message was actually delivered to any of the Muslim leadership physically, many Muslims must have accessed as well as read it since Besigye’s people circulated it across the social media.
Even Besigye tweeted the message himself. Talk of Besigye taking his defiance campaign to the prison authorities’ courtyard.
The message
The message read that: “I congratulate our Muslim brothers and sisters on successfully completing the holy month of Ramadan. Ugandan Muslims are known for their generosity, they make an invaluable contribution to our country from education, hospitality, health care, business, sports and political leadership.
It continues, “As we all come together with Muslims to pray and feast, we should reflect and celebrate the values that make us one Uganda one people.
And ends, “May Allah bring you joy, peace and shared prosperity on this blessed occasion.”
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