The Special Presidential Assistant- Press and Mobilization also Deputy Spokesperson, Haji Faruk Kirunda has lashed out to UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima for attacking President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni with baseless claims following the arrest and detention of her husband Dr. Kizza Besigye.
Early this week, Eng. Byanyima accused President Museveni of betraying the very people who once stood by him and his family during dangerous times.
She revealed that during the Obote II regime, her father rescued and cared for President Museveni’s mother for over two years after she was brutally beaten and left for dead in Mbarara.
“During the Obote II regime, we, the DP supporters, faced persecution. One day, while we were at home, some people came and informed my father that a certain woman had been severely beaten and was struggling for her life near Mile 2 in Mbarara,” said Eng. Byanyima at the National Unity Platform (NUP) headquarters in Kampala on Wednesday during the prayers for Dr. Besigye and other political prisoners.
“My brother brought her to our home, where we cared for her, provided food, and treated her for two and a half years. It was only after Mbarara fell (to the NRA rebels) that Gen. Salim Saleh (Museveni’s brother) came to our home, thanked my father, and took their mother away. Considering how the person we helped now treats Besigye, do you think he can change?” Eng. Byanyima wondered.
However, according to Haji Kirunda, there’s a big difference between the situation of President Museveni’s mother in the 1980s and Dr. Besigye’s current state.
“One (R.I.P) was a helpless victim (as her sons fought for a free Uganda) while another is a suspect on very serious charges, with a physical state rendered by his own refusal to eat or drink, as we are told,” he said in a post on his official X account today.
Haji Kirunda further explained that President Museveni has been there for Besigye-welcoming him to the NRA struggle and later appointing him to various powerful positions including as a Minister- and did not oppose Hon. Byanyima’s international postings despite the active ill will against him all these years.
“To claim that the same benefactor lacks sympathy is laughable and a sign of chronic ingratitude. Moreover, the matter at hand isn’t about Museveni as a person but State stability and the security of all Ugandans, which is what took the whole group to the bush. When Besigye was Minister, he himself was firm in dealing with those that attempted to destabilise the country as DP supporters can testify,” Haji Kirunda noted.
Dr. Besigye and his colleague Hajji Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya were arrested in Nairobi on 16 November 2024 where they had gone to attend an event organised by Kenya’s Martha Karua. They were repatriated to Uganda, sent to prison by the General Court Martial on charges related to security, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and treachery.
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