What Raila told bedfast Besigye

Dr Besigye is still bedfast in Nairobi Hospital but Mr Odinga visited him on Tuesday and reportedly expressed concern over his brutal arrest. FILE PHOTO.

By Peter Leftie

Posted Friday, May 6 2011 at 00:00

Details of Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s meeting with Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Kizza Besigye on Tuesday evening have emerged.

Dr Besigye’s allies revealed that Mr Odinga expressed “grave” concern at the brutality being meted on opposition leaders and civilians participating in the walk-to-work campaign to protest high rising cost of living.

FDC Vice-President Salaam Musumba said Mr Odinga also raised concern over the violent manner of Dr Besigye’s arrest.
“Raila was concerned about the trend of events in Uganda and the barbaric nature of Besigye’s arrest,” Ms Musumba told Nation. “He got firsthand the state of Dr Besigye’s health following the brutality meted to him by State agents.”

Ms Cecilia Ogwal, who is accompanying Dr Besigye, said she was not present when Mr Odinga visited by that Dr Besigye had told her Mr Odinga was deeply touched by his efforts to address the rising cost of living.

Mr Odinga visited the hospital at about 7pm on Tuesday and reportedly spent a long time with Dr Besigye. The PM was not accompanied by his press unit during the visit, reportedly on the advice of doctors treating Dr Besigye.

Shady relations
Efforts to get Mr Odinga to comment on the visit were fruitless as he is away in South Africa. His spokesman Dennis Onyango, who is accompanying him, did not pick our repeated calls or reply to text messages.

Reports attributed to FDC secretary for foreign affairs Anne Mugisha, who is also accompanying Dr Besigye, reveal that the opposition leader is still wearing dark glasses to protect his damaged eyes from direct light. The room in which he is admitted, she said, has also been darkened.

Mr Odinga’s visit is likely to amplify Kampala’s long-standing suspicion that he is sympathetic to Uganda’s opposition.
At the height of the post election violence in Kenya, some ODM MPs led by Lands Minister James Orengo and Dr Oburu Oginga accused Mr Museveni of deploying UPDF soldiers in Western Kenya to crackdown on Mr Odinga’s supporters.
The party also condemned Mr Museveni’s move to congratulate President Kibaki for his “victory” when the dispute over the presidential election was raging.

Relations between Mr Museveni and Mr Odinga only appeared to improve in December last year when the Kenyan PM joined the Ugandan leader on his campaigns trail in Eastern Uganda.

Ms Musumba and Ms Ogwal asked Kenya to put pressure on President Museveni to stop the violent attacks on protesters.

Fears for Besigye
“We are banking on Kenya to understand that we have a dictator in our midst. He is bad for Uganda, he is bad for Kenya, the East African Community and the Great Lakes region,” said Ms Musumba.

“We are extremely proud of the actions by the Kenya government to address the prices of diesel and kerosene unlike our government which is not showing concern,” Ms Ogwal said.

They expressed concern at Dr Besigye’s health with Ms Ogwal expressing fears about the extent of the damage caused on his eyes and other parts of the body by the toxic substance sprayed on him.

“We still do not know the real effects of the toxic substance which may manifest later. That is our real fear,” she said.

Ms Musumba accused the security agents of denying Dr Besigye first aid after his arrest in order to have the toxic substances sprayed on him take full effect.