By Aggrey Baba
At a time when jailed opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye is reportedly battling serious health complications in prison, former Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa, a longtime political ally and admirer of the opposition stalwart, is facing accusations of acting as a State agent in efforts to persuade the detained politician to accept talks over his treason case.
Activist Ingrid Turinawe has revealed how Munyagwa allegedly approached Besigye, claiming he had been sent by Gen Salim Saleh to discuss a possible political settlement of the case in which Besigye is jointly charged with his aide Obeid Lutale and UPDF Captain Denis Oola.
The reported approach has caused unease among Besigye’s allies, who find it difficult to separate Munyagwa’s latest alleged role from his long history in the opposition camp around Besigye. Munyagwa was formerly a member of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and for years was among Besigye’s political supporters and right hand men.
However, the two men’s political paths diverged when FDC was engulfed by internal misunderstandings that eventually split the party’s leadership and supporters between the Najjanankumbi faction and Besigye’s group, which left for Katonga before going on to establish the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF).
While Besigye and his followers pursued a new political path, Munyagwa went his own way and later established the Common Man’s Party.
It is this history of closeness to Besigye that makes the latest allegations particularly explosive. To Besigye’s allies, Munyagwa is not an ordinary intermediary attempting to reach a detained opposition figure. He is a former FDC colleague who knows Besigye’s politics, has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with him and is now reportedly trying to persuade him to enter talks being pursued by people associated with the State.
Ingrid Turinawe and other Besigye supporters suspect that the government is seeking a political way out after struggling to sustain what they regard as trumped-up criminal cases against Besigye and his co-accused. In their view, the push for talks could offer the State a way to resolve the politically sensitive case without conceding that the prosecution itself is unjustified.
The suspicion is that Munyagwa’s familiarity with Besigye could make him a useful channel for delivering the message and persuading the detained four time presidential candidate to accept a process he might otherwise distrust if approached directly by government officials.
Justice Minister Norbert Mao has previously said President Yoweri Museveni tasked Saleh with leading efforts to find a political solution to cases involving Besigye and former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago. Mao has also indicated that he is involved in the process, which is proceeding alongside the court process and efforts to address Besigye’s health concerns.
But the existence of a government-backed initiative does not independently establish that Gen. Saleh personally sent Munyagwa, or that Munyagwa knowingly agreed to act as a State agent. Those claims remain central to the suspicions raised by Besigye’s allies.
Besigye’s camp has maintained that his immediate priority is to secure bail so he can obtain appropriate medical treatment while continuing to answer the charges against him. His wife, Winnie Byanyima, has also rejected the suggestion that his health and rights should become subjects of political bargaining.
Besigye, Lutale and Captain Oola deny the treason allegations against them, and their case remains before the High Court in Kampala.
The controversy presents a difficult political question for Munyagwa, of how a man who spent years in Besigye’s armpits come to be viewed by some of the same political allies as a possible channel for State efforts to persuade their detained leader to accept talks.
The issue is no longer simply whether intermediaries are approaching Besigye, but whether those approaches reflect his own wishes, or whether people who once stood beside him are now helping the State press him towards a political deal. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
