Kizza Besigye returned to Luzira Prison despite severe health concerns, wife says
Kizza Besigye returned to Luzira Prison despite severe health concerns, wife says
Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye has been returned to Luzira Prison from Mulago Hospital despite still being unable to walk, speak, or feed himself, according to his wife, Winnie Byanyima.
In a statement, Byanyima said Besigye was taken back to prison shortly after 7:00 pm on Friday, while he was still recovering from a recent health crisis and dependent on assistance for basic care.
“After 7:00 pm tonight, my partner was bundled up and taken back to Luzira Prison. When I left KB at 4:30 pm, he still could not walk or talk. At lunch, I fed him soft food with a spoon because his arms and hands remain very weak,” Byanyima said.
She questioned the decision to return Besigye to prison before he had regained the ability to care for himself.
“Why the rush to return a seriously ill man to prison before he can walk, talk or feed himself?” she asked.
Byanyima said Besigye’s family had been helping to feed and care for him at Mulago, where doctors had prescribed a rehabilitation programme following his recent deterioration.
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She said a senior prisons official had attended a meeting between the family and Besigye’s doctors and acknowledged that Luzira could not support him in his current condition.
According to Byanyima, the official recommended that Besigye remain at Mulago while he underwent rehabilitation and recovered.
She said the decision changed after Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi visited Mulago, following which an order was issued to transfer Besigye back to Luzira.
Byanyima condemned the decision, saying: “Taking a helpless patient from where he can receive rehabilitation and family assistance, and returning him to a prison that cannot support his condition, is cruel.”
Besigye’s latest health crisis follows his collapse during a court session on July 29, after which he was taken to Mulago Hospital for treatment.
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