Winnie Byanyima, the wife of opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye, has said his health is slowly but steadily deteriorating at Luzira Prison, where he has been incarcerated since November 2024. Speaking to reporters at her home in Kasangati, Byanyima said Besigye was recently rushed to a clinic in Bugolobi after complaining of severe stomach ache and fever.
Byanyima said that when they visited him on Monday, they found him weak and unable to stand for long, prompting them to ask his personal doctor, Nandy Kanyeerezi, to examine him. However, when Dr. Kanyeerezi went to Luzira Prison, she was informed that Besigye would be treated at the prison health centre.
Byanyima said Besigye declined treatment at the prison facility, citing fear for his safety. According to Byanyima, Besigye told them that he does not trust the prison medical centre because he considers himself a prisoner of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his son, the Chief of Defence Forces, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and feared what might be done to him if treated by prison medical staff.
Byanyima said when Dr. Kanyeerezi examined Besigye, she determined that he needed to be taken to her medical facility in Bugolobi to conduct several tests that were not available at the Luzira Prison health unit. She said that later that night, Besigye was driven to Bugolobi without notifying her, despite being his next of kin.
“He spent there like four hours; the doctor had taken many tests. They admitted an antibiotic because they couldn’t wait until the results were out, yet he was severely dehydrated. After he was taken back to prison. I asked the warders whether he would be able to be brought back the following day. They told me that it wasn’t their call to make, that the order had to come from above. Besigye now has no right to see a doctor; it has to be negotiated from above,” Byanyima said.
Byanyima described as lies statements by Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson Frank Baine, who dismissed reports that Besigye was seriously ill as fake news.
Byanyima further said that when she took a photograph of Besigye while at the clinic, she was warned against circulating it, with officials cautioning that doing so would jeopardise his chances of being taken back for further treatment. However, Byanyima said she could not tolerate what she described as blackmail and decided to share the picture with reporters.
She also called upon President Museveni to release Besigye, saying he has committed no crime other than politically challenging him. “I’m here to tell Museveni, enough is enough, stop opposing his bail application. A lot of lies have been told against him; now you are using a judge to do all you want to keep an innocent old man in prison. This is not a trial, it’s persecution of an opposition leader. It is criminal to treat your opponent like that; you have no heart. Enough is enough; you want to kill Besigye slowly in prison. I’m saying Museveni, back off from this man whom you know is innocent,” Byanyima said.
Dr. Besigye was arrested in November 2024 after being abducted from Kenya, where he had travelled to attend a book launch by veteran Kenyan politician Martha Karua. He was initially detained at Makindye Military Barracks and later charged before the military court with unlawful possession of firearms. The case was subsequently transferred to the High Court. However, Besigye has not yet taken a plea, and court records indicate that he has been denied bail on four occasions.
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