Kizza Besigye: The doctor who treated and later challenged Museveni
Kizza Besigye, Uganda's leading opposition leader and presidential candidate flashes the "V for victory" sign to supporters during an election rally in Kampala on February 10, 2016. He will challenge incumbent President Yoweri Museveni for the fourth time when voters go to the polls on February 18, 2016. PHOTO | AFP
Uganda’s Kizza Besigye has been described as possibly the most arrested man in Africa. Besigye was once President Yoweri Museveni’s ally, and personal physician. He broke ranks with Museveni in 1999, and emerged as the most long-standing political opponent to the ageing president, who has run the country since 1986. For this, Besigye has been jailed, kept under house arrest, renditioned, forced into exile, and endured state violence countless times. He has been in jail since 2024. Barney Walsh and Dennis Jjuuko have studied Besigye’s remarkable political career.
