For weeks, Andrew Wilson Orlando presented himself before Uganda’s High Court as a man at the centre of a covert intelligence operation involving Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obeid Lutale.
But under sustained questioning by Lutale’s lawyers, the prosecution’s first witness found himself explaining a series of extraordinary details about the operation, including why he handled the very firearms that became part of the State’s case.
Wilson, a supposed private investigator who says he is a former British Army soldier and intelligence operative, told the High Court in Kampala that the Kenyan Police had rented and prepared the Nairobi premises where Besigye and Lutale were arrested.
The witness further testified that the two pistols and counterfeit currency allegedly found at the scene had been planted there as part of an intelligence-led operation.
The revelations emerged during cross-examination by Farouq Kamulegeya, one of the lawyers representing Lutale, in proceedings before Justice Emmanuel Baguma.
The courtroom was told that Besigye and Lutale had unknowingly walked into a room that had already been prepared for their arrest.
Wilson said he had travelled from Uganda to Nairobi on November 16, 2024, where a Kenyan police officer led him and an associate to the prepared location at Riverside Hotel.
His role, according to his testimony, was to lure Besigye and Lutale into the room under the guise of a meeting concerning an alleged plan to overthrow the Ugandan government.
But it was his handling of the guns that became one of the most striking moments of the cross-examination.
Wilson told the court that when he entered the room, he found bullets already inside the magazine of one of the pistols.
As a security operative, he said, he unloaded the bullets because he considered it necessary for safety.
That explanation immediately came under attack.
Kamulegeya challenged Wilson over why an experienced soldier and investigator would handle a firearm that did not belong to him, remove its ammunition and potentially leave his own fingerprints on an important piece of evidence.
The lawyer pointed out that Wilson had claimed experience in several countries, including Latin America, Nigeria, Mexico, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates.
The witness maintained that his actions were motivated by safety.
He also told court that he did not know the current whereabouts of the guns or counterfeit notes because the prosecution had not yet exhibited them in court.
That answer opened another line of attack from the defence.
The lawyers suggested that if the firearms were subjected to forensic examination, it could be Wilson’s fingerprints rather than those of the accused that would be found on them.
Wilson was also accused of tampering with evidence and of possessing a firearm in Kenya without a licence.
He rejected the suggestion that he had committed an offence, insisting that the weapons had been placed there by Kenyan police as part of the operation.
The scene that was allegedly staged
The cross-examination also placed the circumstances surrounding the arrest under a microscope.
Wilson confirmed that the operation was intelligence-led and that the room had been prepared before Besigye and Lutale arrived.
Asked why everyone else in the room was arrested while he and his associate were not, Wilson said he had never wanted to be arrested because he feared being beaten by security personnel.
He said he and his associate were operating under assumed identities for the mission.
Wilson identified himself as “Zac Ahmed”, a name he said had been adopted specifically for the intelligence operation.
The witness said he had met Lutale only once in Kenya.
According to Wilson, Lutale did not participate in discussions about any alleged plot to overthrow the Ugandan government.
Apart from greeting those present with “Assalam Aleikum”, Wilson said, Lutale remained quiet throughout the meeting.
That testimony appeared to conflict with earlier evidence in which Wilson had indicated that Lutale participated in discussions surrounding the alleged plot.
The discrepancy became one of the issues pressed by the defence during cross-examination.
‘I am completely uneducated’
Another unusual revelation concerned Wilson’s education.
When questioned about his background, the witness told court that he was “completely uneducated”, explaining that he had left school at the age of 15.
Yet he also described himself as a man of many trades.
Wilson said his professional experience included service in the British Army, private investigations, espionage, crime-prevention training and authorship.
He said he provides some of those services through an online business identified as Risks Incorporation Ltd.
His military and intelligence credentials also came under scrutiny.
At one point, Wilson was asked whether he had received specific military training in infiltration.
Instead of providing a straightforward answer, the witness became emotional and referred the lawyer to books he said he had written on military and intelligence matters.
He challenged the lawyer to read his books and determine for himself whether he was “stupid or not”.
Wilson repeatedly declined to answer some questions directly, telling the court that the information sought was classified.
The unanswered questions covered a wide range of issues, including who drove him from Uganda to the Kenyan border, how he obtained another vehicle to travel from the border to Riverside Hotel, who connected him to the operation and where the money involved in the operation went.
The mystery of Captain Oola
The cross-examination also raised questions about the inclusion of Captain Denis Oola in the treason case.
Wilson confirmed that he did not know Oola.
More significantly, he told the court that Oola’s name never featured in the meetings he claimed to have held with Besigye and Lutale.
Oola, Wilson confirmed, was not present at the Nairobi scene where Besigye and Lutale were arrested.
The witness also said he did not know why Oola was subsequently arrested and charged alongside the two men.
Wilson further testified that he had handed some recordings of meetings allegedly involving Besigye to former Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence commander General James Birungi and then General Otto.
The missing email
Another potentially significant point emerged when the defence questioned Wilson about an email allegedly sent by Joel Wakayima.
According to the testimony, Wakayima was reportedly the first person to approach Wilson about providing military training services to several opposition figures in Uganda allegedly interested in overthrowing the government.
But the email was not submitted as evidence.
Wilson explained that his assignment was intelligence gathering rather than evidence collection.
He also told court that the Ugandan government had committed extremely limited resources to the intelligence work.
The exchange left the defence questioning why potentially important documentary evidence had not been preserved and presented in a case in which Wilson’s intelligence activities form a central part of the prosecution narrative.
The case behind the witness
Besigye, Lutale and Captain Oola are jointly facing treason charges over allegations that they plotted to overthrow the Ugandan government.
The prosecution alleges that the accused held meetings in Uganda, Kenya, Greece and Switzerland to raise funds, obtain weapons and organise paramilitary activities.
The State further alleges that Besigye met Wilson, whom prosecutors describe as an alleged intelligence operative, and received US$5,000 intended to facilitate the movement of 36 Ugandans to Kisumu in Kenya for military training.
The prosecution alleges that the recruits were intercepted and deported before the training could take place.
It also alleges that Besigye sought surface-to-air missiles, ricin poison and counterfeit currency and planned to use drones in an attempt to assassinate President Yoweri Museveni.
The State has indicated that it intends to rely on witness testimony, audio and video recordings, social-media communications, immigration records and telephone data.
But the first witness has now faced an increasingly detailed examination of the circumstances surrounding the Nairobi operation itself.
Besigye was arrested alongside Lutale at Riverside Hotel in Nairobi on November 16, 2024.
They were subsequently taken before Uganda’s General Court Martial in Makindye, where they initially faced charges including unlawful possession of firearms and treachery.
The charges were later amended to treason in February 2025, following a Supreme Court decision that nullified the trial of civilians before the military court.
The High Court trial is proceeding before Justice Emmanuel Baguma.
The prosecution is represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Thomas Jatiko and Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka.
Lutale is represented by Wilson Kato, Farouq Kamulegeya, Mariam Lutale and Syrus Ogul, while Captain Oola is represented by Sylvia Namawejje Ebitu, Julius Sserwambala and Sarah Awelo.
For now, the prosecution’s first witness remains at the centre of a courtroom battle in which the defence has turned his own account of the Nairobi operation into a series of difficult questions: who controlled the crime scene, who handled the guns, who planted the evidence, and what exactly Wilson was doing inside the room before the arrests?
