A prosecution witness in the treason trial of opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye told the High Court in Kampala that Besigye was “not very wise” because he allegedly continued meeting him without realising that he was working for the Ugandan government. Andrew Wilson Orlando, a state witness, made the remarks on Tuesday as the court continued listening to audio and video recordings that the prosecution says link Besigye and his co-accused to an alleged plan to overthrow the government by force of arms.
Besigye was not in court, and neither was his legal team. The proceedings continued in the presence of his co-accused, Hajji Obeid Lutale, and his lawyers, as well as the legal team representing UPDF Captain Dennis Oola.
Justice Emmanuel Baguma presided over the proceedings, which started at about 11 am with the court completing about 40 minutes of an audio recording that had been played during the previous hearing. In the recording, Wilson narrated an alleged plan to obtain the biometric information of Joel Wakayima, a Ugandan based in Switzerland, which he said would facilitate the acquisition of a passport to ease Wakayima’s movements.
The witness also described discussions about training Ugandans in paramilitary skills, reconnaissance and drone technology, which he said were part of preparations to overthrow the government. However, parts of the audio were muffled, making some sections difficult to hear. The prosecution then played about 50 minutes to one hour of video evidence contained in 11 parts.
Wilson told the court that the recordings were made using a camera fitted into his wristwatch, which he said explained the shaky nature of some of the footage. One of the videos allegedly showed Besigye and Wilson meeting at an airport café in Geneva.
Wilson told the court that the meeting took place after the arrest of 36 Ugandans in Kisumu, Kenya, in July 2024 and that the two discussed how to respond to the arrests and allegedly advance plans to destabilise the Ugandan government. The 36 Ugandans were arrested at the Ukweli Pastoral and Development Centre in Kisumu on or around July 23, 2024.
They had reportedly travelled to Kenya for a week-long leadership training seminar. Ugandan security agencies, however, alleged that the group was involved in covert and subversive activities. In one of the videos played in court, Besigye was seen looking through Wilson’s smartphone.
Wilson told the court that Besigye was reading messages from Joel Wakayima concerning the arrest of the Ugandans in Kisumu. The witness said he had expected his engagement with Besigye to end but claimed that Besigye wanted to continue working with him.
Wilson said he had decided against continuing the relationship because he believed he had gathered substantial evidence against Besigye and others. He told the court that the evidence included audio recordings, videos and screenshots, which he claimed showed an intention to commit acts of treason.
Wilson also told the court that he was surprised Besigye wanted to meet him in Athens after the Kisumu arrests. He described Besigye as relaxed during their meetings, despite what he claimed was his knowledge of plans to cause major civil unrest, assassinate President Yoweri Museveni and overthrow the government by force of arms.
The witness said Besigye had accepted what Wilson described as fake currency without questioning its legitimacy. Wilson then told the court that, from an operational perspective, Besigye was “not very wise” because he had met him three times at locations chosen by Wilson without apparently realising that Wilson was working for the Ugandan government.
He added that Besigye never appeared to understand that Wilson was working for the Ugandan government. The court also heard an explanation about a date appearing on one of the video recordings. The recording displayed a timestamp of May 4, 2017, although the prosecution alleges that the meeting shown in the video took place on September 29, 2024.
Wilson told the court that he had never set the dates on the cameras and that, from his perspective, the dates could be changed and were irrelevant. He said he relied on his passport and travel documents to establish the date of the meeting. Wilson further told the court that he attended the Geneva meeting with an associate who sat several tables behind him and Besigye. The witness also implicated former presidential candidate Frank Bulira in the alleged plot.
Wilson told the court that Bulira contacted him after the arrest of the 36 Ugandans in Kisumu and asked about the whereabouts of Wakayima, who Wilson said had gone missing after the arrests. He said he had previously known Wakayima and had communicated with him by telephone. In another video played in court, Wilson said Besigye was trying to find a solution to the arrests in Kisumu.
He claimed that at the time, only he and Besigye knew what had happened in Kisumu. Wilson further alleged that Besigye had become suspicious of Wakayima following the arrests and had nevertheless wanted to continue with what the witness described as an operation to overthrow the government. He also told the court that Besigye had described the government as dysfunctional and believed it could easily be removed by force of arms.
According to Wilson, Besigye also said Wakayima needed psychological help. The witness claimed that Besigye believed either he or Wakayima could have been responsible for leaking information that led to the arrests in Kisumu. Wilson again described Besigye as “not very wise” from an operational perspective.
The court also heard about an alleged meeting in Nairobi on November 16, 2024. Wilson said his associate raised the issue of a leak at the beginning of the meeting and said the person responsible needed to be disciplined.
He further alleged that Besigye had discussed obtaining guns from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the weapons allegedly to be brought through a landing strip near Mahagi in Uganda. Wilson claimed that the weapons would be stored in a warehouse and that the 36 Ugandans would subsequently be trained to use drones.
Towards the end of another meeting, Wilson alleged that Besigye suggested that he take money concealed in flat-screen television boxes and deliver it to the governor of Kisumu. The defence has yet to respond to the evidence presented during Tuesday’s proceedings. The trial is proceeding amid continuing concerns over Besigye’s health and pending applications concerning his trial. The court adjourned to Thursday for continuation of the hearing-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
