By Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. Ugandan political figure retired Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye and political aide Hajj Obeid Kamulegeya Lutale filed a constitutional petition in the High Court of Kenya, accusing Kenyan authorities of colluding with Ugandan security forces to abduct and unlawfully extradite them from Nairobi in November 2024. On 16th November 2024, the former president of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Dr Besigye together with Hajj Lutale were abducted from Riverside Apartments in Nairobi, Kenya, and forcibly returned to Uganda.
Previous petitions
Two human rights lawyers last year filed a petition at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), against the Kenyan and Ugandan governments seeking intervention in the case of Dr Besigye and Hajji Lutale. The petitioners, including Andrew Karamagi, Godwin Toko and Anthony Odor, who acted on behalf of Dr Besigye, said that the abduction and subsequent trial of the duo in a Ugandan military court violated international law, regional treaties, and fundamental human rights principles. They also pointed to Kenya’s complicity in the abduction. The argument is that Kenya’s failure to prevent or investigate the incident sets a dangerous precedent, eroding the country’s reputation as a haven for democracy and human rights. The petitioners cited similar renditions in recent years, including the abductions of South Sudanese activists, Turkish nationals, and Ethiopians, which have raised concerns about Kenya’s growing role in forced renditions across East Africa.
Current petition
The current petition, filed under Kenya’s Constitutional and Human Rights Division, accuses several Kenyan government officials, including the Cabinet Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Interior, as well as the Inspector General of Police and the Director of Immigration, of violating Kenya’s Constitution, territorial integrity, and international law by facilitating a cross-border operation that bypassed due extradition process. In the court documents that were filed, Besigye and Lutale allege that they were in Nairobi to attend a book launch at the invitation of Kenyan politician Martha Karua when they were seized by armed men claiming to be Kenyan police. They say they were bundled into vehicles, driven to the Malaba border in the dead of night, and handed over to Ugandan authorities—all without being informed of any charges or being presented before a court in Kenya. “This was not an arrest; it was an abduction conducted in the full knowledge of Kenyan authorities and in violation of the Extradition (Commonwealth Countries) Act,” the petitioner’s state. Besigye, a former Ugandan presidential candidate and vocal critic of President Museveni’s government, asserts that he and Lutale were later detained incommunicado at Makindye Military Barracks in Kampala. On 20th November 2024, Besigye and his associate Lutale appeared before the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) General Court Martial on four counts related to security and were remanded to Luzira prison to date. They were charged with offenses including illegal weapons possession and the concealment of treason, in what the court said were efforts to overthrow the government.
Plaintiffs’ argument
According to the affidavit, the plaintiffs argued that the Kenyan authorities did not follow proper procedure under Kenya’s extradition law, including seeking a magistrate’s warrant and obtaining clearance from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Adding that the Kenyan government either actively participated in or turned a blind eye to the illegal operation. The petition references public statements by Ugandan officials—including Col. Rafael Mugisha, Brig. General Felix Kulayigye, and Uganda’s Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Chris Baryomunsi—who claimed the operation was a coordinated effort between Kenyan and Ugandan security forces. “If I committed a crime on Kenyan soil, then I should have been charged in Kenya. But I was neither arrested nor charged in accordance with Kenyan law,” Besigye said. Even when Kenya’s Human rights activists, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) protested Besigye and colleague’s detention in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, Kenya’s government continued to deny any involvement in the abduction. But in December 2024, Kenya’s government said that investigations on how Dr Besigye was spirited out of the country were ongoing.
However, in a surprise twist, on 20 May 2025 Kenya admitted to assisting in the kidnapping of Dr Besigye Kifefe and Hajji Lutale on its soil prompting his lawyer to accuse Nairobi of acting like a “rogue state.” This followed Kenyan Foreign Affairs Secretary Musalia Mudavadi admitting that Kenya participated in Besigye’s abduction “Kenya cooperated with the Ugandan authorities.”
Mudavadi justified the action by saying that “(Uganda) is a friendly nation. He (Kizza Besigye) was not seeking asylum. He had not come to say that he was seeking asylum. Had he said that, maybe the treatment would have been different. “We have to partner with our East African states and sometimes we have to manage those relations very carefully for the broader national interest,” he added.
Besigye’s legal team, led by James Njeri & Company Advocates, argues that such conflicting statements point to an “unlawful, opaque, and politically motivated” operation that threatens Kenya’s own rule of law and the rights of foreign nationals. Speaking to African-Press Chris Lwanga a political analyst while analysing the issue of Kenya participating in abduction said that some African countries go ahead and breach their constitution for the sake of fearing to damage their diplomatic ties. “I fault the Kenyan government for collaborating with dictatorial regimes in the region to silence opposition figures but then I feel like these diplomatic relations, especially in Africa, are the main problem. Just because countries don’t want to jeopardize their diplomatic relations with one another they do this,” Mr Lwanga said. He added that Nnamdi Kanu was rendered to the Nigerian government, Besigye to Uganda, four Turkish asylum seekers to Kenya were returned back to Turkey just for Kenya to maintain diplomatic ties with the respective nations, failure which would have brought forth economic consequences.
Constitution breach
The petition invokes more than two dozen provisions of the Kenyan Constitution, including those protecting due process, personal liberty, freedom of movement, and the rule of law. It also references Articles 238, 239, and 241 on national security organs and territorial integrity.
Among the reliefs sought are declarations that:
•The arrest and transfer of the petitioners violated the Constitution;
•The extradition was illegal, unconstitutional, and void;
•Any security memorandum of understanding between Kenya and Uganda bypassing formal extradition channels is unconstitutional;
•All foreign nationals in Kenya are entitled to the protections of the Constitution.
The petitioners also seek punitive, exemplary, and general damages and call on the court to assert Kenya’s sovereignty and legal obligations.
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