By Aggrey Baba
Winnie Byanyima, wife of opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye, has come under heavy social media attack, after posting a photo of herself warmly shaking hands with the President of Kenya William Ruto, whose government has continued to face questions over how Besigye was abducted from Nairobi and ended up in the hands of President Museveni’s security agencies.
Currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Byanyima had shared the photo as she met Ruto and explained that she strongly supported his work as the African Union Champion for Local Manufacturing of Medical Products. But many netizens were less interested in the health diplomacy surrounding the meeting, instead focusing on the fact that it was Ruto she was shaking hands with at a time when Besigye, her husband, remains in the dungeons of Luzira, nearly two years after his controversial removal from Kenya.
Besigye was arrested in Nairobi in November 2024 together with his political aide Hajji Obed Lutale and subsequently brought to Uganda, where he was arraigned before a military court. Byanyima has consistently maintained that the operation was an abduction and has demanded accountability from both Uganda and Kenya, particularly over the circumstances under which Ugandan security operatives were able to take a Ugandan opposition leader from Kenyan territory.
It was therefore the photo with Ruto that appears to have triggered the latest anger, with some Ugandans questioning how Byanyima could comfortably shake hands, smiling, with the very person whom they believe bears political responsibility, or at the very least owes them an explanation, over what happened to Besigye.
Some of the social-media users became particularly vicious, going as far as calling Byanyima “Delilah”, in reference to the biblical woman who betrayed Samson. The label was clearly intended as an accusation that Byanyima was somehow betraying the very struggle for which she has spent the last nearly two years demanding freedom and justice for her husband.
But Byanyima, rather than retreating from the photo or apologizing for meeting Ruto, returned to social media with an explanation that she was doing her job and that her international responsibilities can’t be suspended simply because she is engaged in a deeply personal and political struggle over Besigye.
“I hear and respect the strong feelings about my partner [Kizza Besigye], Byanyima posted on X, before explaining that she was in the United States on official business.
“I am at work, meeting governments, business and other leaders to end AIDS and Ebola, prevent future pandemics and advance Africa’s health sovereignty. There is no leader whose hand I will not shake in pursuit of that work,” she said.
Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS, the United Nations agency coordinating the global response to HIV/AIDS, and also serves as a United Nations Under-Secretary-General. Her job requires her to engage governments, heads of state, businesses and other international actors worldwide, including leaders with whom she may have serious political or human-rights disagreements.
She appeared to be drawing a distinction between her official work and her private campaign for Besigye’s freedom, making it clear that meeting Ruto does not mean she has abandoned her position on the events in Nairobi.
In fact, in the same response in which she defended her right to shake Ruto’s hand, Byanyima hardened her accusation against Uganda, saying she has evidence that four Ugandan security officials were responsible for abducting her husband.
“I have evidence that KB was abducted by four Ugandan security officials. He remains a prisoner in Uganda,” she said, before calling on President Museveni and his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to release Besigye and all other people she considers political prisoners.
And while some people were demanding that Byanyima explain why she could engage Ruto, she turned the question back on Kenya, saying Kenyans themselves have a democratic right to demand answers from their own government and security agencies over Besigye’s removal from their country, following demonstrations which have for weeks been taking place in Kenya, with some people demanding answers over the same.
“Kenyans are right to demand answers about whether their security agencies played any role in his abduction. Their democracy gives them that right,” she said. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
