2006年VOA标准英语-Ugandan Opposition Candidate's Wife, Party

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
19 January 2006

The wife of Ugandan opposition¹ presidential candidate Kizza Besigye and a senior party official are scheduled to appear in court next week.  The court appearance involves a confidential² letter the two sent to a senior judge last month expressing their concerns about bribery⁴ in upcoming cases.

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Kizza Besigye, right, and his wife, Winnie Byanyima 
  

In a letter last month, Winnie Byanyima and Jack⁵ Sabiiti asked Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki to investigate claims that President Yoweri Museveni paid more than $100,000 to two high court judges to influence the outcome of opposition presidential candidate Kizza Besigye's upcoming treason, rape⁶, and terrorism trials.

Byanyima and Sabiiti were issued criminal summons Tuesday and face four counts of libel and giving false information. They are scheduled to appear in court on January 24.

A defense⁷ lawyer in Besigye's cases, Sam Njuba, says he thinks Chief Justice Odoki acted unprofessionally in publicizing the letter's contents. Njuba says the judge should have met with the letter's writers privately⁸ and asked them to substantiate⁹ the bribery claims.

Njuba says he believes the government set up the situation to make the opposition look bad.

"The state may have made some arrangement to trap them into believing the story and then turning around and saying, 'see how the opposition is behaving irresponsibly,'" he said.  "They [the government] could have given them the information deliberately¹⁰."

Senior presidential advisor¹¹ John Nagenda rejects the idea that the government supplied the two with false information to attack the opposition's reputation.

"I think it will take a mad person to just get the information [and] not check it out [and] put it out," he said.  "If they fell for something which had been put there so in the end they would look stupid, then they deserve everything they get."

Nagenda calls the bribery allegations "absolute rubbish," and says he thinks it is not within the president's character to bribe³ judges.

Opposition presidential candidate Kizza Besigye faces charges of terrorism and illegal possession of firearms in a military court, and treason and rape charges in civilian¹² court. He was detained for almost two months and was released several weeks ago.

It is widely believed that the charges are politically motivated, designed to prevent Besigye from campaigning fully¹³ and to ruin his reputation.

The opposition politician was once Mr. Museveni's personal physician and is seen to be a serious contender against the president.

Mr. Museveni and his government have come under fire internationally for Besigye's detention¹⁴. Sweden, Britain, Norway, Ireland and The Netherlands have withheld¹⁵ part of their funding because of concerns about democracy.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

3 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

4 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 substantiate   

v.证实；证明...有根据

参考例句：

• There is little scientific evidence to substantiate the claims.这些主张几乎找不到科学依据来证实。
• These theories are used to substantiate the relationship between the phenomenons of the universe.这些学说是用来证实宇宙现象之间的关系。

10 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

11 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

12 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

15 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》