A police detective investigating the treason case against jailed opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye and his co-accused has revealed that investigators paid Makerere University Shs59.32 million to transcribe audio recordings collected during the investigation. Detective Inspector Benedict Odyek told the High Court Criminal Division in Kampala on Thursday that the recordings, extracted from electronic devices submitted for forensic examination, lasted 24 hours, 43 minutes and 15 seconds. His testimony shed light on the work and costs involved in processing digital evidence in the high-profile case.
Odyek, 56, who is attached to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) headquarters, told trial judge Emmanuel Baguma that Makerere University charged Shs40,000 per minute to transcribe the recordings. He said he took the audio materials to the university’s Centre of Languages in September 2025. According to his testimony, he first visited the centre on September 3 to obtain a quotation and invoice before returning on September 5 with a formal request letter and making the payment.
The quotation presented in court was signed by Mary Katungi, the centre’s client relations officer. Odyek, who has 32 years of investigative experience, is one of three detectives handling the case under the supervision of Commissioner of Police Lydia Kantono. The other officers are Detective Inspectors Nelson Natumanya and Wilbern Tworekirwe. Their work involves examining exhibits and gathering evidence that prosecutors intend to rely on as the case proceeds through court.
The detective told the court that the audio recordings were extracted from electronic gadgets handed to him by Andrew Wilson, also known as Orlando, and Wilson’s friend, Moses Barasa. The exhibits included three mobile phones, a hard drive fitted with a concealed camera, a power bank containing a concealed camera, a wall socket with a concealed camera, a magnetic listening device, a watch described in court as an “attitude chronometer”, and a USB cable. The devices formed part of the materials investigators sought to examine for information relevant to the allegations against Besigye and his co-accused.
According to Odyek, Wilson told investigators that the devices had been used to record Besigye, Joel Wakayima and Frank Kihehere during meetings held in Geneva, Switzerland; Athens, Greece; and Nairobi, Kenya. The detective testified that Wilson allegedly claimed the meetings involved discussions about plans to overthrow the Ugandan government. Odyek further said Wilson claimed that Obeid Lutale, another accused person in the case, attended the Nairobi meeting alongside a Kurdish associate. These statements were presented as accounts attributed to Wilson and should not be treated as independently established facts.
Odyek also explained how the police obtained and handled the electronic exhibits. He said he received most of the items on March 21 and March 27, 2025, while other exhibits were handed to him on September 9 of the same year. After receiving them, he labelled the items with his initials before they were submitted for forensic examination. The handling and identification of exhibits are important in investigations involving digital evidence because investigators must account for the materials they collect and analyse.
The court heard that on March 25, 2025, Odyek obtained a court order signed by Grade One Magistrate Opio Charles Kangira authorising the police forensic unit to examine the exhibits. The order directed the Head of the Cyber Crimes Department in the Directorate of Forensics to image the devices, analyse their contents, extract information and prepare a report. On the same day, Odyek also swore an affidavit supporting the application for the extraction of information from the electronic gadgets.
The testimony adds another dimension to the ongoing treason proceedings against Besigye and his co-accused, with investigators outlining the financial cost of transcribing the recordings and the steps taken to process the electronic evidence. However, the accounts attributed to Wilson, including claims about meetings abroad and an alleged plan to overthrow the government, remain allegations and must be assessed through the court process. The significance of the recordings will depend on the evidence presented, its admissibility and how the court evaluates it as the trial continues.
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