Witness Orlando Says He Used Fictitious Company, $5 Million Offer to Trap Besigye

What the report says

KAMPALA — In testimony at the treason trial of veteran Ugandan opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye, prosecution witness Andy Wilson Orlando said he used a fictitious company, invented associates and an обещание of $5 million to win the confidence of Besigye and his circle. Orlando, a British-American national, told court he posed as a foreign financier willing to supply money, weapons and technical support as part of an effort to gather information about alleged plans to destabilise the government.

According to the Nile Post report, Orlando described meetings with Besigye and associate Joe Wakayima in Geneva and Athens, and said the group discussed creating a training camp in Kisumu, Kenya, in December 2023. He testified that the proposed support included hand grenades and other equipment, but that he deliberately did not deliver the promised help, preventing the training from going ahead. He also said one meeting was later held in Geneva on January 28, 2024, although the date has been disputed by Besigye’s lawyers.

Orlando further alleged that conversations covered a possible drone attack targeting President Yoweri Museveni and that the participants disagreed mainly over who would claim responsibility. He said he recorded the meetings on audio and video. Besigye, who has been reported as unwell and absent from one recent hearing, is on trial alongside co-accused including Obeid Lutale and Wakayima. The case remains at the evidence-taking stage, and the judge has said proceedings will continue.