Members of Parliament now plan to summon Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi to explain the dramatic abduction and extradition of veteran Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye.

While speaking at a local TV station, the National Assembly Defence and Foreign Relations Committee chair Nelson Koech said his committee will summon government ofcials including Mudavadi,
who is holding both the Foreign Afairs and Interior dockets, to shed light on Besigye’s disappearance.

“I made an undertaking that we are going to invite the relevant leaders to shed light on what exactly happened. I will invite Musalia Mudavadi to come and explain what exactly happened,” said Koech
emphasizing that every foreigner is entitled to safety while in the country.

Koech spoke even as the Foreign Relations Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei denied the government’s involvement in the abduction.

Additional security
“The circumstances surrounding his travel are not known to us because no information was shared with us before he traveled. We do not know which hotel he was booked to or which apartment he stayed and therefore we were not in a position to necessarily provide him with certain additional security,” Sing’oei said.

Separately, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) also condemned Dr Besigye’s abduction saying it was a violation of domestic and international
laws.

The two lobby groups have also raised concerns over Besigye’s deportation from the country blaming Kenyan authorities for negligence. ICJ is now calling on relevant authorities to investigate the Kenya National Police Service’s involvement in the issue.

“The ease with which this kidnapping took place points to either deliberate involvement or egregious negligence on the part of Kenyan authorities, who failed to uphold their constitutional obligation to
protect everyone inside its borders,” said

ICJ and PALU in a statement.

Both organizations further emphasized that the series of abductions that the country has experienced are a sign of dictatorship which has no place in modern-day governance.

Sponsored kidnapping
They further likened the current leadership to the previous dreadful era where state-sponsored kidnappings and crossborder renditions were common.

“We’re at a critical juncture. The kidnapping of Dr. Besigye is not a singular incident. Rather, it is a component of a larger trend that has seen numerous abductions of foreigners in the country,” the
organizations said.

Turkish nationals
According to PALU and ICJ, some of these abductions include the forced rendition of Turkish nationals in Kenya, the unresolved disappearances of the 36 Ugandans abducted from Kisumu, Kenya, The South Sudanese activists who were abducted from Kenya and subsequently killed as well as the Ethiopians who was abducted in broad daylight on a busy Nairobi road.

According to the lobby groups, these incidents raise concerns about Kenya’s standing as a refuge for democracy and human rights and instill anxiety among political dissidents, refugees, and whistleblowers.

“If nothing is done, impunity will be entrenched, regional stability will be jeopardized, and it will undermine the values upheld by the international community and the East African Community,” further stated the two organizations.

Besigye and his “comrade” identified as Hajj Obeid Lutale, were kidnapped from Nairobi on Saturday. He had been in the country to attend a book launch by opposition politician and former Minister
for Justice, Martha Karua. Ugandan media reported that they were forcibly repatriated to Kampala, Uganda, via Wilson Airport by their abductors and detained at the Makindye Military Barracks in
Kampala.