NAIROBI, Kenya, May 11 – Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has now delayed his travel back home, citing security concerns after he was barred from boarding a Kenya Airways plane to Entebbe on Wednesday morning.
Dr Besigye who had been re-scheduled to depart Nairobi on a later flight at 1750 hours on Wednesday said he received news from opposition leaders in Kampala that his travel in the evening would be unsafe.
"Our leaders in Kampala got information that there may have been a plan of stopping us from going during the day so that we arrive in the evening and have plans of taking us somewhere," said Dr Besigye.
Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni had announced that the opposition figure had been booked on the evening flight after the airline downgraded its earlier "internal intelligence" that its planes would not be allowed into Uganda with Dr Besigye on board.
Accompanied by his wife Winnie Byanyima and an aide, Dr Besigye told the media in Nairobi that his attempts to book a Thursday morning flight had borne no fruits as he was told that all flights to Uganda were fully booked.
He said he had planned to attend several activities in Kampala on Wednesday including a prayer service.
"Very many people in Uganda were expectant that we were going back today. We had a number of stop-over engagements in Kampala. These had already been arranged and agreed upon by the Ugandan security," said Dr Besigye.
With the swearing in ceremony of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni set for Thursday, Dr Besigye maintained that the recent presidential election was a sham and he would subsequently not recognise the ceremony.
"The swearing in tomorrow (Thursday) is the swearing in of an illegitimate president. Mr Museveni has reason to worry about his illegitimacy because whereas he can steal an election and say \’I got 70 percent\’ the people are on the ground now telling him that they are the voters and they don\’t trust him as their leader."
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