Byanyima charged with embezzlement

The wife of former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye has been arrested and charged with embezzlement and illegal possession of a firearm, news agencies reported on Tuesday. Winnie Byanyima, MP for Mbarara municipality in the southwest of the country, was originally arrested on Monday after a political ally for whom she had guaranteed police bail disappeared. The BBC quoted police as saying that Byanyima had agreed to produce Deus Bainomugisha, former campaigner for her husband, on Monday morning but instead told them that he had “escaped.” Following Byanyima’s arrest, police said they found an unlicensed weapon at her home and also suspected her of embezzling 32 million Ugandan Shillings (some US $18,000), which the Danish government aid agency DANIDA had donated to the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), of which she is chairwoman, the ‘New Vision’ reported. Bainomugisha had been arrested on 2 September for allegedly possessing “dangerous information,” according to the BBC. Besigye said his wife’s arrest was part of a witch-hunt carried out by state security services since the March presidential elections, in which Besigye was comfortably beaten by incumbent Yoweri Museveni, the state-owned ‘New Vision’ reported on Wednesday. Besigye fled Uganda for the US two weeks ago, saying he feared his life was in danger after hearing Ugandan security agents were planning to arrest him and harm him thereafter. [for related IRIN stories, go to: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/archive/uganda.phtml]