Uganda's Opposition leader, Kizza Besigye has been taken back to Luzira Prison while still in a fragile condition, with his wife Winnie Byanyima saying he remains unable to walk or speak and needs help to eat.
Besigye was moved from Mulago Hospital shortly after 7:00 pm on Friday, despite still being under recovery after a recent health crisis. Byanyima, in a statement on Friday, said he had not regained enough strength to manage basic tasks without assistance.
She said she left him at the hospital at around 4:30 pm and found that he could still neither walk nor talk. At lunchtime, she had fed him soft food with a spoon because his hands and arms were still very weak.
“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.
The transfer has left Besigye’s family questioning why he was removed from hospital before completing his recovery and rehabilitation.
“Why the rush to return a seriously ill man to prison before he can walk, talk or feed himself?” she asked.
Byanyima said Besigye had been receiving support from his family while at Mulago, where doctors had recommended a rehabilitation programme following his recent deterioration.
She also said a senior prisons official had attended discussions involving Besigye’s family and his doctors. During the meeting, the official acknowledged that Luzira Prison was not in a position to provide the level of care Besigye currently requires.
According to Byanyima, the official advised that Besigye should remain at Mulago as he continued with rehabilitation and worked towards regaining his strength.
She said that position later changed after Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi visited Besigye at the hospital. An order was subsequently issued directing that the opposition leader be taken back to Luzira.
Byanyima strongly criticised the move, arguing that Besigye had been receiving both medical care and assistance from relatives at Mulago, unlike in prison where his condition could not be adequately supported.
“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.”
The latest development follows Besigye’s collapse during a court session on July 29. He was taken to Mulago Hospital after the incident, where he was treated for the health problems that left him in his current weakened state.
Byanyima’s account places renewed focus on Besigye’s condition as he begins another period in Luzira Prison while still requiring assistance with movement, communication and feeding.