Uganda’s opposition leader Kizza Besigye was released on Monday after a court slashed the cash bail that has made him spend two weeks in custody.
Besigye was charged on May 25th with inciting violence over a sudden hike in commodity prices in Uganda.
He was granted a cash bail on the condition that he was to pay 30 million shillings ($8,000.00) but his lawyer protested against the move terming it abnormal.
The leader also refused to pay the amount and chose to stay in custody as his lawyers wrote to the court to of appeal for the money to be reduced.
On Monday, a judge slashed the bail money to just 3 million shillings, which Besigye paid.
Ugandan consumers have been expressing anger about a steep surge in prices of a range of goods including fuel, cooking oil, soap, wheat, and others.
Besigye has been leading opposition calls for tax cuts or other measures to limit the impact of inflation on consumers, but President Yoweri Museveni has refused relief, blaming high prices on the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic.
He has been detained dozens of times and lost four elections to Museveni, 77. He rejected the results, saying the votes were marred by intimidation and rigging.
BY REUTERS
